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Microsoft launches Office for iPad

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Re: Microsoft launches Office for iPad

#191
post #150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This isn't the 1990s anymore where Windows is the dominant platform. It's always easy to see who's in the bubble.

It still dominates overwhelmingly in enterprise, but at homes? People might have a windows box, but lots of older adults (people over 40) just use an iPad in front of the TV instead. My mum hasn't touched her PC in several months.

I can't use an ipad for real work. I can't program on anything smaller than a BFM and I need a real keyboard to do more than a few characters.

Re: Microsoft launches Office for iPad

#192
Finally. Yes, there are alternatives to Microsoft Office for the iPad, but make no mistake, none of them even come close to that of Microsoft Office. I just downloaded Word and Excel, couldn't find a flaw in either of them. The subscription part for editing sucks, but subscriptions are fairly cheap.

We are witnessing a new Microsoft that began when new CEO Satya Nadella took the helm. This is his first of many acts to turn the company around, instead of the previous closed door approach Balmer preferred.

It's good to see Satya doesn't appear to be full brainwashed by the Microsoft cool-aid. This isn't 1998, Windows is no longer the dominant platform and it makes sense to open up your products to other platforms, especially given Microsoft's failure to break ground in the mobile market.

Now all Satya needs to do is bring back the start menu in Windows 9, get rid of that horrid Metro tile interface for non touch devices (or at the very least give users the option of the new Metro interface or classic desktop) and I'll be ecstatic.

Re: Microsoft launches Office for iPad

#193
post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That Microsoft is broadening where and how customers can use Office is interesting. But what's shocking is that the first tablet-optimized version of Office is arriving not on Windows RT, but on iOS. That speaks volumes about the state of Windows today – and about how Nadella is under no illusions. Office for iPad may have started under Ballmer, but it's hard to imagine it getting this high a priority without his suc…

I think that it's a good strategy for Microsoft to make its software run on other platforms. This isn't the 1990s anymore where Windows is the dominant platform. It's not even the early 2000's with the "I'm a Mac vs. I'm a PC" meme. Now there are multiple popular platforms (at least in the consumer market), none with clear dominance, and meanwhile Microsoft's software only works on their own platform. They have to co…

Microsoft made products for the Apple decades ago.

Re: Microsoft launches Office for iPad

#194

Finally. Yes, there are alternatives to Microsoft Office for the iPad, but make no mistake, none of them even come close to that of Microsoft Office. I just downloaded Word and Excel, couldn't find a flaw in either of them. The subscription part for editing sucks, but subscriptions are fairly cheap. We are witnessing a new Microsoft that began when new CEO Satya Nadella took the helm. This is his first of many acts t…

You realize that this had to have been in development for months if not years prior to this release, right?

Re: Microsoft launches Office for iPad

#195
post #163

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's because market share is a meaningless measure.

Nope its actually a totally real and meaningful measure. it measures how much of the market market -> all the people encompasses your share share -> using your stuff Apple has shown time and again that it isn't a good measure of Profitability, but your statement seemed to imply a more general connotation that I can't help with disagree with.

It's meaningless because the 'market' of which share is measured is an arbitrary classification.

Re: Microsoft launches Office for iPad

#196

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hasn't Office always been available for the Mac?

It has. And it was pretty good. Ironically at the time it was made available it was part of MSFT's injection of cash into a near death APPL and a way for MSFT to get the monopoly police off their back (See we are supporting another platform! wink wink ) My how times have changed.

Microsoft made Office for the mac long before that deal was made, and it was only done as a show of confidence for the Mac platform; Apple didn't really need the money (they had more than few billion in the bank, were still profitable, and far from death). To paraphrase Mark Twain, "news of Apple's impending death had been greatly exaggerated."

Re: Microsoft launches Office for iPad

#198
post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hasn't Office always been available for the Mac?

In a limited way. Word, Excel, Outlook, Powerpoint, and Communicator (i/o Lync) are available for Mac, but they are not even close to the Windows versions in terms of feature parity. VBA support has been on-and-off. Access, Infopath, and Publisher are not available at all. They're written in Cocoa and on a different release cycle. There is no Office for Mac 2013, current version is 2011.

Mac Office has often surpassed Win Office in many ways; in usability for example. It is at least a different product, not better or worse.

Re: Microsoft launches Office for iPad

#199

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not sure it's marketing but being in the bubble like was previously mentioned. Apple has nearly 100% market share with fellow engineers at work. Sometimes I forget PCs exist until I'm forced to use one (internet cafe, friends home, etc)

Yeah there is a fascinating income bias at play there. Think about it this way, if you are an engineer and you make over 75k a year gross you are in the top 15% of wage earners in the united states, if you make over 100k you are in the top 10% of wage earners. So if you are in one of those brackets chances are your company is spending a good chunk of change on you and doesn't mind springing for a nice laptop to keep…

Would developers write better software if they had to write on slower, older machines with less memory and storage?

Re: Microsoft launches Office for iPad

#200

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hasn't Office always been available for the Mac?

It has. And it was pretty good. Ironically at the time it was made available it was part of MSFT's injection of cash into a near death APPL and a way for MSFT to get the monopoly police off their back (See we are supporting another platform! wink wink ) My how times have changed.

>> part of MSFT's injection of cash into a near death APPL and a way for MSFT to get the monopoly police off their back

Afaik, it was a deal that Jobs made (with some other parts) because Microsoft had been found to have code in its Windows' video software that came from Quicktime.

I googled this:

http://www.zdnet.com/blog/apple/stop-the-lies-the-day-that-m...

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