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Microsoft launches Office for iPad

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Re: Microsoft launches Office for iPad

#71

Post by vparikh »

MadManE wrote: post #47
k-mcgrady wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How is this lame? If you only require viewing docs on the iPad you can do that for free. That's fantastic and most people will probably be satisfied with that. A subscription is only to edit and I believe gives you access to Office 365. For software you use daily a subscription shouldn't be a problem.

Subscriptions in general leave a bad taste in my mouth. What happened to just buying the software, and when you felt like upgrading (either because of compatibility issues, or needed functionality) then you can upgrade? Subscriptions definitely are a win for a business by ensuring income streams, but as a consumer I want to pay the company when I feel like buying something and not when they feel like they need money.

In my opinion, subscriptions are a net win for everyone. For the following reasons:

1. They allow easy access to upgrades, and make it far easier to make sure everyone is on the latest and greatest (you aren't paying for every upgrade, so there is little incentive to hold out.)

2. The consumer pays far less up front -- for example, Adobe Creative Suite costs $600+ and that is money you have to pay upfront. Or I can pay $30 a month to use all of the software in that suite. In my example, I would never buy Photoshop as I can't justify $600+ in price for my uses. $30 a month I can justify. Basically, as a consumer I get access to software/functionality that I never would have had access to before.

3. I only pay for as long as I need it. If after a 6 monhts, I no longer have a need for the software, I cancel my subscription. As simple as that. I have not wasted a lot of money.

4. Which leads to making the software publishers work harder to put in features that help a larger base of users, not just corporate users. And to provide theses features on a more regular basis to keep me paying the monthly fee.

Sure, you can look at it the way you are suggesting but overall I think it is a win/win scenario.

Re: Microsoft launches Office for iPad

#72

Post by batoure »

It is with a certain amount of amusement that I note that this version of office (which looks really cool) is significantly more optimized for touch than the version of office that I have for my MS Surface. That is some what disappointing.

Re: Microsoft launches Office for iPad

#73

Post by bane »

thematt wrote: post #69
bane wrote: post #60

Before anybody thinks this is weird, or unusual. Microsoft has quite often been more pragmatic about the platform offerings for their office suite than elsewhere. After all, Office exists and has existed on Apple products for a very long time. It's more unusual that it hasn't been on the iProducts than anything.

I may be remembering wrong, but isn't the fact that Office existed on the Mac for so long also a result of the deal that Microsoft and Apple struck back in the 90's? Microsoft would keep making Office for the Mac and in exchange Apple would drop it's patent suit against them.

No, it's even older. Word 1.0 for Mac was released in '84 or '85 I think.

Re: Microsoft launches Office for iPad

#74

Post by rrhyne »

bri3d wrote: post #39
dudus wrote: post #31

I wonder if Apple gets a cut of the subscription pricing. I also bet any other company would not get away with a model like that. Apple requires that you make payments through their AppStore or in-app Payment systems so it can collect its cut. Good luck trying to publishing something with the same model on the App Store.

It looks like Office 365 subscriptions are available as an In-App Purchase (seen on the sidebar here : https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/microsoft-excel-for-ipad/id5... ), so Apple get their cut of the revenue and Microsoft are above-the-board in terms of App Store regulations. Naturally if you buy a subscription from outside the app, Apple don't get a cut - that's how everything works and as long as you don't give the…

Sidebar: Apple does not allow you to provide a link to a website where you can market or upgrade a SaaS app that does not use the app store subscription model. Does anyone have any experience with denoting features which are locked to paid users without running afoul of this rule?

Re: Microsoft launches Office for iPad

#75

Post by skrowl »

mortenjorck wrote: post #55
sz4kerto wrote: post #4

MS is changing, and make no mistake, this has started with Ballmer. If you watch(ed) the press conf, it's quite apparent. App store for Android, Office for iPad, AD for Azure.. quite nice stuff, that's what we expect from a software giant: just release stuff for everything, everywhere, and make things be able to work with each other nicely. Good to see that, competition is always good for the users, and Apple, Google…

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…

You know that the RT versions of Microsoft Surface (and other RT tables) come with Office and have since they launched, right?

https://office.microsoft.com/en-us/home-and-student/office-2...

Re: Microsoft launches Office for iPad

#76

Post by outside1234 »

batoure wrote: post #72

It is with a certain amount of amusement that I note that this version of office (which looks really cool) is significantly more optimized for touch than the version of office that I have for my MS Surface. That is some what disappointing.

No it's not. Its encouraging - Microsoft is putting their muscle where the market share is, not based on some religious belief.

Re: Microsoft launches Office for iPad

#77

Post by skrowl »

gum_ina_package wrote: post #41
martinald wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree. The most exciting thing would be Mono becoming a first-class citizen for .NET. I think this is likely for two reasons: 1) They may well acquire Xamarin, which would result in them 'owning' Mono. 2) The new CEO has been extremely forward thinking vs the rest of Microsoft on supporting open source software on Azure. 3) Increasing amounts of ASP.NET and other .NET technologies are open source now I would love f…

This would be an incredibly interesting development. I personally love c# and would be thrilled if it became a mainstream language outside the enterprise software crowd.

It's not so much that I love C# as I hate Objective C (iOS) and Java (Android)

Re: Microsoft launches Office for iPad

#78

Post by mortenjorck »

chrisdevereux wrote: post #12

The pricing structure is interesting: Free to view, requires an expensive Office 365 subscription to edit. Seems like they're missing an opportunity to drive adoption of Office as an online platform. Why would I want to publish using Office instead of Google Docs when I can't assume that people I send the Office doc to will be able to edit it? Sure, Office is better, but not better enough to overcome that. If it was…

Office 365 is downright cheap compared to Adobe's subscription offerings: $600/year or $75/month.

Granted, that gives you access to a huge suite of applications. But if you only need, say, three of them, you can subscribe individually, which at $20/app/month, would cost you a mere $720/year!

And unlike Office, which is still available as a desktop app without a subscription, Adobe has discontinued its entire non-subscription-based suite.

Re: Microsoft launches Office for iPad

#79

Post by RyanZAG »

cobalt wrote: post #18
chrisdevereux wrote: post #12

The pricing structure is interesting: Free to view, requires an expensive Office 365 subscription to edit. Seems like they're missing an opportunity to drive adoption of Office as an online platform. Why would I want to publish using Office instead of Google Docs when I can't assume that people I send the Office doc to will be able to edit it? Sure, Office is better, but not better enough to overcome that. If it was…

I wouldn't exactly call office 365 that expensive. It's $100/4yrs for students (university) and $100/yr for 5 users. That's hardly expensive. (Sure if you live alone it's more expensive, but you could probably just pair up with friends/family to split the cost)

It's expensive because it has competition that is charging less. The actual price doesn't matter that much given consumers are free to choose alternatives.

That said, $100/yr is extremely expensive in most countries in the world.

Re: Microsoft launches Office for iPad

#80

Post by yulaow »

skrowl wrote: post #75
mortenjorck wrote: post #55

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…

You know that the RT versions of Microsoft Surface (and other RT tables) come with Office and have since they launched, right? https://office.microsoft.com/en-us/home-and-student/office-2...

He stressed "tablet optimized version"

The office on my surface is just the desktop one without any optimization for touch screens. Edit: and yes, I do not think that the "touch optimized features" they are describing on that site is enough for a real rt app.

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