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Microsoft Reportedly Working on iPad Apps
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i COMPLETELY agree. as much as i hate MS Office, the world is it. I would like to see a version of OpenOffice for the ipad as well. Pages is garbage.
micosoft ISN'T in the software business??? They're in Windows and Office??? You gotta be kidding me???? OS's and Office ARE SOFTWARE PACKAGES!!!!!!
I like Pages on the iPad myself. That being said though my needs for word processing aren't heavy. Its great for rough drafts in my opinion.
One thing to keep in mind is that you will not see "Microsoft Office for Mac" (or Office for Windows, for that matter) for iPad. At more than one demonstration of Office 2011, Microsoft have been asked and responded to the iPad question by saying that iPad is a different class of device. It doesn't make sense to try and blindly shoe-horn a complete Office suite onto iPad without knowing what people want to use it for, and how they will use it. What they want to do is make Office companion apps that provide the features that people need on a touch tablet.
So, for example, you probably want to run presentations off it, AirPlay-style. But will you need to build Excel pivot tables or VBA? Is a notebook app more important than a word processor? Do you need to organize thoughts more than you need to write a thesis? Do you need all the power of the formatting palette and all the templates? Are you more likely to proof a document retrieved from SharePoint than write one from scratch that no-one else will ever see? (And frankly, even if you think you do, is that even typical?)
There are no apps in the App Store that just completely replicate their desktop equivalents. Or, certainly, there are no good ones. iWork for iOS is a different creature because it's designed with devices in mind. So are Things, OmniFocus, AIM, iMovie, iTunes and so many others. Not just because of the resolution, but also because of the way they're used.
For those who want Microsoft to make iPad apps, you need to speak up and tell them what you want to get done on them, how you will use them and in what situations, so they can design and build apps that make sense on the iPad. Not just say "I want Microsoft Office for iPad". Because you will not see Microsoft Office for iPad that is just Microsoft Office.
When I signed on to spy and saw this thread,'i couldn't help think the same thing. True MS is a software company and will seek avenues to maintain revenues.
I think we will see an office for the ios. Perhaps not a full version but a lite version.
There are a few articles/predictions that the pc will be the thing of the past with devices accessing remote terminals. Something the iPad already has.
I think productivity software is needed for the user and for apple to take the ios platform to the next level.
If your going to take that tack then Microsoft in the Excel business.
That's the product that drives the profits and development budgets.
Excel drives office sales that's why they were always happy to make office for the mac even if pretended to be reluctant at times. The Mac software division has general made good profit even when Mac's sales where at there worst. Excel is what keeps them on corporate computers which is what keeps selling windows.
Of coarse Microsoft will make iPad apps, they want Excel to be everywhere people want to use a spreadsheet and they can't risk any big holes that might be filled by anyone else.
I could see them selling Excel for $70+ in the app store and it would still always be in the top10.
Then they might round out with the rest of office and some games.
After all Halo was first demo'ed on a G3 Mac in the 300Mhz range so power shouldn't be lacking.
I love Pages on the Mac. Whatever it is that they're calling Pages on the iPad isn't Pages. It is some dumbed down way to make fliers or write rough drafts and then have a hard time getting it off your iPad since iWork.com is lame and Printing will be lame.
I totally agree. One of the most important functions of MS Office is compatibility. The ideal MS iPad app would be some sort of MS Word Touch- a bare bones word processor that would allow you to modify (even text only) word docs while preserving compatibility. People could take a collaborative word document report from work, edit it on the go, and then bring it back with no loss in fidelity along the way. I would pay good money for that.
I think that Microsoft has a nice opening for Office at this time.
With Office 2010, Cloud 2010 and the Mac version coming soon, what if Microsoft redesigned Office so it was the same across the PC, Mac, iOS, Android, (and maybe Linux) and Cloud. One version that was exactly the same on all 5 platforms. They could offer all versions on one DVD for a reasonable price.
This would make using Office such a nice experience. No compatibility issues. Zero. No UI differences. Granted some features may need to be removed to make all versions the same. Call if Office 2011 Universal if that helps. This way I can use the same application and UI across the board including the Cloud. All versions have the same features and sync. Think in terms of IMAP e-mail. It would be easy to hop from platform to platform working on the same document, spreadsheet and presentation. Very convenient.
I would venture to say, that a majority rarely use advanced features on a regular basis so this concept would be doable.
With Office 2010, Cloud 2010 and the Mac version coming soon, what if Microsoft redesigned Office so it was the same across the PC, Mac, iOS, Android, (and maybe Linux) and Cloud. One version that was exactly the same on all 5 platforms. They could offer all versions on one DVD for a reasonable price.
This would make using Office such a nice experience. No compatibility issues. Zero. No UI differences. Granted some features may need to be removed to make all versions the same. Call if Office 2011 Universal if that helps. This way I can use the same application and UI across the board including the Cloud. All versions have the same features and sync. Think in terms of IMAP e-mail. It would be easy to hop from platform to platform working on the same document, spreadsheet and presentation. Very convenient.
I would venture to say, that a majority rarely use advanced features on a regular basis so this concept would be doable.
You completely missed the point of SockRolid's post.
It would be a smart move for MS to develop any kind of version of Office for iPad, and it would have been even smarter for it to have been done already. However, I can't help but feel that MS was firmly in the camp of the naysayers who lacked the foresight to understand that the iPad would be the huge hit that it is, so it's no wonder they are late to the game, as usual.
Yeah, and then they went into massive debts over the Red Ring of Death fiasco.
They are only just - this year - making pennies off the XBOX division.
Awesome pic that one.
Back on topic, who knows what Microsoft will produce, as long as it's quality there will be a market for it (even if it's not all that great the name alone will make some purchase whatever being offered). I do hope they come out with something good.
Back on topic, who knows what Microsoft will produce, as long as it's quality there will be a market for it (even if it's not all that great the name alone will make some purchase whatever being offered). I do hope they come out with something good.
I would love to have Word on the iPad, even though pages probably would be a better program (I like it for what it is now, one way to edit .doc/.pages-documents on the road). Word would give us a better compability with windows users which would be a good thing when using this for work, which I'm doing.
I wish MS well, it's about time they came out with a well written and successful piece of software. With the strict Apple guide lines to follow and the Apple SDK they have a sporting chance.
Or use their lead to stay ahead of the competition.
Damn shame indeed.
Or use the current opening to return not just the iPad there is a slew of these devices some of them are bound to be competitive.
I wonder if Apple relaxing App store restrictions on code interpreters is in part about getting Office on the iPad?
As much as I Personally prefer iWorks for the work I do if your working with finance guys it needs to be Excel with working macros.
For Apple they can't not be in enterprise so they need office if the platform is going to hold and expand their current enterprise penetration both Mac and iDevice.
This isn't surprising. The Bing team gave an impressive demo at this years WWDC session on Safari extensions. They're clearly looking at Safari (and by extension Mobile Safari) as an opportunity they want to exploit to increase the acceptance of Bing overal.
Actually, I believe that it was Lotus and their Lotus 1-2-3 spreadsheet which came about earlier than Excel.
I would love to see Microsoft Office on the iPad. I am a bit concerned however that MS is developing their own mobile tablet OS and will launch Office with that.
Pages is a great word processor, but it is better for academic tasks. I work in public accounting, and as a firm we use Word and Excel exclusively. For word processing documents, it is much too difficult to transfer over files like financial statements to Pages with all the specific formatting requirements. And Numbers is unfortunately completely inadequate for anything but personal use. It is actually pretty decent software and I would love to use it for work, but it is just completely incompatible with Excel documents, which renders it worthless since even if the firm used Numbers exclusively, most clients would send us documents in excel format.
However, given the popularity of the iPad with business executives (our CEO pulled one out at a party last week), I know there is a market for this. But right now, my iPad is for fun only, and as much as I would like to work on it sometimes, it's not possible. Maybe I should give Documents-to-Go a try? My work laptop is too big and slow sometimes.
Pages is a great word processor, but it is better for academic tasks. I work in public accounting, and as a firm we use Word and Excel exclusively. For word processing documents, it is much too difficult to transfer over files like financial statements to Pages with all the specific formatting requirements. And Numbers is unfortunately completely inadequate for anything but personal use. It is actually pretty decent software and I would love to use it for work, but it is just completely incompatible with Excel documents, which renders it worthless since even if the firm used Numbers exclusively, most clients would send us documents in excel format.
However, given the popularity of the iPad with business executives (our CEO pulled one out at a party last week), I know there is a market for this. But right now, my iPad is for fun only, and as much as I would like to work on it sometimes, it's not possible. Maybe I should give Documents-to-Go a try? My work laptop is too big and slow sometimes.