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Microsoft launches Office for iPad

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Re: Microsoft launches Office for iPad

#81

Post by chrisdevereux »

rayiner wrote: post #49
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…

> Why would I want to publish using Office instead of Google Docs Because Google Docs continues to suck?

It does, but if I send someone a link to a Google doc (or, for that matter, an iWork doc), I know that they can edit it and send it back to me. No amount of non-suckiness can overcome that.

Re: Microsoft launches Office for iPad

#82

Post by aroch »

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...

Yes, and the RT version is a pile of poop and neither version performs particularly well in a touch-only environment

Re: Microsoft launches Office for iPad

#83

Post by Someone »

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…

"If it was free to edit, but $$$ to publish, Office 365 would be much more compelling."

1. How many documents do you never share with anybody else?

2. The same model seems to work fine for Adobe Acrobat.

Especially w.r.t #2: if they get the editor on many, and the viewer on a large fraction of devices, this might hurt PDF a bit.

Re: Microsoft launches Office for iPad

#84

Post by tkmcc »

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 actually cheaper than that for students - only $80 for a 4 year subscription: http://www.microsoftstore.com/store/msusa/en_US/pdp/productI...

Re: Microsoft launches Office for iPad

#85

Post by jwcooper »

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...

The Office for iPad looks much more optimized for touch screen devices, rather than having minor adjustments made to Office for desktop that RT looks to be using.

I'm guessing the usability differences are night and day between the two devices.

Re: Microsoft launches Office for iPad

#86

Post by higherpurpose »

jmspring wrote: post #3

A review comparing the Apple apps (native and cloud), MSFT Office (native and cloud), and Google Docs compare would be interesting. Specifically usability (touch as well as external keyboard attached), on and offline modes. Playing up the ribbon in the presentation? Curious as ribbon really has triggered a love it or hate it reaction.

Not just Google Docs, but Google's QuickOffice, which is the more feature rich office app for mobile from Google.

Re: Microsoft launches Office for iPad

#87

Post by chrisdevereux »

Already__Taken wrote: post #50
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 dont see how you could allow editing for free really it's so easy to steal then with the simplest of copy/paste.

Good point, but it should be possible to overcome this for an online document. Free accounts could only be able to edit other people's documents, for example.

Re: Microsoft launches Office for iPad

#89

Post by chrisdevereux »

guelo wrote: post #67
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…

Unless you're Apple in which case everything is locked down to your platforms.

http://www.apple.com/iwork-for-icloud/

Re: Microsoft launches Office for iPad

#90

Post by untog »

chrisdevereux wrote: post #81
rayiner wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Why would I want to publish using Office instead of Google Docs Because Google Docs continues to suck?

It does, but if I send someone a link to a Google doc (or, for that matter, an iWork doc), I know that they can edit it and send it back to me. No amount of non-suckiness can overcome that.

How often is that a requirement, though? I'd imagine the vast majority of cases are people just looking to send a document, not look for edits.
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