Microsoft Reportedly 'Actively Working' on Office for iPad and Mac App Store

[SandynJosh]

Just want to agree that Office >iWork.

Interesting in an iPad app, but the price better be reasonable.

True...with iWork apps selling for $10 each, MS can't command the prices it did in the past.

If this rumor is true, then MS is doing Apple a huge favor, while doing themselves smaller one as well. MS is making the iPad legit even before they have a tablet to sell as well. I expected them to have a tablet product available for a year or so before making it available on the iDevices.

But then, in a different thread, Rim is doing something similar for their competitors' tablets in providing apps for business users and aiding the competitive tablets' sales.

 

[Mad-B-One]

This is great news. I've never had any practical use for the cutesy-pootsey application they call Pages. And Numbers as a serious spreadsheet application is a joke.

You are right, though, for notes in class, notes isn't that bad. Now, I see MS there as a competitor which might push Apple to improve their iWorks. I certainly hope that will happen.

 

[Dr McKay]

Another reason not to bother with any other tablet. And quite possibly less of a reason to consider Windows tablets.

The difference is that Office running on a Windows 8 Tablet would have the option of running the full Desktop version of office, not some scaled back tablet version.

 

[HarryPot]

I was supposed to read the logos as, "WHO?" right?

What's the advantage of this over iWork though? I'm asking from an ignorant standpoint. I really don't know.

Excel is vastly superior to Numbers. This alone is a big announcement for me. I use Excel daily and being able to use it in the iPad would be amazing.

As for PowerPoint and Word, those are the standards. Anywhere you go (in the business world), they'll use them. So being able to use them natively in the iPad is huge.

 

[1goodidea]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9A405 Safari/7534.48.3)

I'd like to see track changes functionality in Word for iPad but somehow I think not.

 

[samcraig]

This could be huge if the importing/exporting of documents created is 1:1 as opposed to the scaled down versions of Apple's Apps.

IE - track changes, fonts, etc.

It will be interesting to see how comprehensive the apps are.

 

[Leaping Tortois]

Can I just say that there's an entire app which is perfect for an entire market that hasn't even been mentioned here?

OneNote! Great for students (possibly business too, I'm a student which is why I mention it).

I LOVE this app for my uni work. Only problem being that I either have to use bootcamp or run a virtual machine to use it. I actually quite like Office 2011 for Mac but the only problem I've had is with the lack of OneNote support for Mac.

Students are the demographic that purchase apple products at the highest percentage (especially in the laptop and tablet section). OneNote is perfect for them. I especially like hooking up my graphics tablet (for equations and diagrams and things) and to have that all natively built into the mac ecosystem (or iPad but I don't see myself needing an iPad anytime soon) would be a major reason for me to not consider a windows laptop next time.

One other thing I'd mention is that I want to see full OS's (OSX or Windows) on tablets such as the iPad. THAT is the kind of tablet I'd buy in an instant.

 

[*LTD*]

The difference is that Office running on a Windows 8 Tablet would have the option of running the full Desktop version of office

Probably not a good idea, as MS has already demonstrated.

"Full desktop version" and tablets don't tend to mix very successfully.

Further, it is a an idea still unproven to work, and left up to MS to prove. Don't get your hopes up.

 

[nagromme]

I’m 100% behind getting Office on iPad!

But I have to say, in Numbers’ defense, being able to ditch Excel and use Numbers for my finances was one of the things I most looked forward to when considering an iPad.

Numbers lacks power I don’t need, and violates decades-long habits I don’t have, but (especially on a touch screen) the way it thinks/acts is awesome for me: I want to get certain numerical things done, not “use a spreadsheet.” I want to drag and drop and lay out my data and results an an intuitive way that fits my workflow, without fussing with a million toolbars and shortcut keys. Numbers has its niche!

(I might feel the same about Pages, but Pages isn’t that “different” the way Numbers is, and doesn’t excite me. Most of my text editing is done in TextWrangler anyway!)

 

[samcraig]

Probably not a good idea, as MS has already demonstrated.

"Full desktop version" and tablets don't tend to mix very successfully.

Further, it is a an idea still unproven to work, and left up to MS to prove. Don't get your hopes up.

Except you're wrong. Completely.

Back in 1992-3 I was using windows 3.1 and word/excel and it was GREAT.

 

[IconicM]

What's the advantage of this over iWork though? I'm asking from an ignorant standpoint. I really don't know.

I try to use my personal iPad as much as possible for work when traveling. So for that alone, the compatibility of software is a high priority for me.

There are apps (such as Quick Office) that are more compatible with MS products than Pages, but those are still super-light versions. For example, the excel equivalent in quick office does not "see" text boxes, a feature that is very necessary for me for developing cause and effect charts.

Anyway, I'm very excited about this. As others have mentioned, there are plenty of bugs in the Mac version, but I'm willing to put up with those more on the iPad because of my limited needs.

 

[Ryth]

This has to be true. Microsoft would be fools to not make an office suit for the tablet with 80% of the market. I know that is the one thing keeping me from using my iPad for nearly everything. I need Word and Excel and Powerpoint on a daily basis.

Agreed. In fact, I emailed them when the iPad was coming out and asked why they weren't putting out Office for it....told them they were basically morons to not do it.

Desperate times call for desperate measures.

No thanks. I'll take iWork or NeoOffice over MS Office any day!

They would be idiots to not do it. As much as we all hate MS, their Office products are imbedded everywhere...put them on the iPad and all of a sudden, the iPad officially becomes the business tablet.

 

[hetrigger]

Tho, I can be called ignorant on Office and iWorks equally, I do have the understanding of each. But, it would be nice to know if it is going to be an app or a full downloaded version. If it is an app, no problem. If a "full" version is offered, underguesstimating, it would be about 5-7gig and if you are financially embarrassed like I am or cheap (pick one), then you are going to have to a 32gig or a 64gig to fully enjoy this wonderous upgrade! Tho, I am new to the Mac world, and I may be naive on the inner workings, I do not have much faith in an app oriented program such what would be Office for iPad. If it would work as an app...the PC crew would have had it out a long time ago.

 

[Marx55]

The ultimate presentation tool:

PowerPoint for iOS (iPhone, iPod touch and iPad).

 

[coffey]

office 2011 works on Lion now

I can understand them creating a new version of Office to sell it again to everyone, but I am having no difficulty running Office 2011 under Lion 10.7.2. I know it says officially supports up to Snow Leopard, but I am having no difficulty with the three programs, Excel, Word and PowerPoint. I never thought about compatibility when I upgraded to Snow Leopard and Lion.

 

[AidenShaw]

Isn't this Apple's problem?

Really wish MS would fix the compatibility with Lion: have used OfM since 2004 release and the current iteration is very poor. The latest update from MS has resulted in a worse experience than before. With SnowLeopard it worked OK, but with Lion there are all sorts of issues that need to be resolved.

Why shouldn't Apple fix the compatibility issues with Lion?

 

[charlesdayton]

I never liked Office on Windows mobile itself. If you edit a complex document in mobile office it loses part of the formatting. I expect the same will happen in an iOS office.

Documents to go does a better job of preserving the document's original appearance. Although it is quite overpriced compared to competitors like Quickoffice.

 

[Tonewheel]

The ultimate presentation tool:

PowerPoint for iOS (iPhone, iPod touch and iPad).

We (as an agency) ditched PPoint for Keynote for our client's General Session presentations at large conventions. Our switch to Keynote drew comments from convention attendees who walked over to the tech table to ask "how did you do that"? The differences and capabilities are noticeable, both for the user and the audience.

 

[vrDrew]

Microsoft is in a bit of a tough position regarding Tablets.

On the one hand, if they were to introduce Office for iPad, it would very quickly shoot to the top of the Top Paid App charts.

On the other, doing so would in one fell swoop remove the prime motivation for the 50 million businesspeople currently carrying iPad's to even consider looking at Windows Tablet 8, whenever it appears.

There was a report in today's New York Times technology column on Forrester research that Microsoft is probably running out of time in the Tablet race:

consumer interest in a tablet computer running Windows has dimmed measurably since the beginning of the year. During the third quarter, 25 percent of consumers surveyed by Forrester said they would most prefer a tablet running Windows, down from 46 percent in the first quarter of the year.

If consumer interest in Windows Tablet has dropped by half in the past eleven months, whats it going to be like by next September? When there are probably going to be 150 million iPads in the wild, and a quarter million iPad Apps to choose from.

Someone at Microsoft has had to make a tough call on this one. Choose between selling ~ 100 million Office for iPad suites @$60 a pop (and keeping their Excel and Word customers' loyalties intact) - but also pretty much conceding the Tablet war to Apple, at least for the foreseeable future.

 

[Friscohoya]

I don't see any advantage. I could see it on a regular computer but not a tablet. There's only so much you can do with a spreadsheet on the iPad.

Not if the UI was reimagined. Besides, I dont need to build spreadsheets on a tablet, just use them.

 

[mytdave]

Ho hum

Someone tell me when M$ finally makes Mac versions of Project and Visio, then I might be interested.

 

[powers74]

who?

lol.

Why one of the biggest software companies on the planet would hold out releasing one of the most popular software suites on the planet, on the worlds most popular tablet, on the globes most used app delivery system is both baffling and telling.

 

[*LTD*]

Except you're wrong. Completely.

Back in 1992-3 I was using windows 3.1 and word/excel and it was GREAT.

Yeah, those "tablets" (or whatever that junk was called) running Windows back then were all kinds of awesome.

LOL

 

[imageWIS]

That's great news, it's about time. I really hope the prices isn't too crazy.

 

[retry4]

Finally!

It took them this long...