[PCWorld]

Post your comments for Microsoft's CEO is wrong about Office for iOS: Here's why here

[DrSpanky]

I would say Apple should get on the ball and deliver a PC version of its office suite. Microsoft keeps making radical redesigns which end up frustrating end users. They are making their software for programmers and geeks, but this isn't the average office worker. When I keep showing people how to fix their pagination, there is a fundamental problem with the software. Going from Roman numerals to regular numbers shouldn't require a PhD in computer science.
I say no to Microsoft Office on the iPad.

[qtnet]

As soon as LibreOffice / Kingsoft / TeamLab get into the iOS scenario with solid, full-featured apps, Microsoft will be in trouble.

[iCrapple]

lol @ above two comments

[TsarNikky]

A very interesting observation, in that Microsoft is conceding a huge market. It appears to be so true. Look at Windows-8; clearly not designed for the traditional office/enterprise setting using laptops and desktops working with applications that are and will continue to be keyboard/mouse oriented. Oh well.

[brainout]

TsarNikky, on 04 February 2013 - 05:36 PM, said:

A very interesting observation, in that Microsoft is conceding a huge market. It appears to be so true. Look at Windows-8; clearly not designed for the traditional office/enterprise setting using laptops and desktops working with applications that are and will continue to be keyboard/mouse oriented. Oh well.

What do you want to bet it's the old OS war, all over again. MS overvalues its MS Office, thinks that you'll 'have to' use the OS, to get MS Office, which it thinks you need. But you don't. In fact, you can easily pick up an older version of MS Office and run it in Bootcamp or Parallels, and actually get a better MS Office product, one which most of the world still uses. For most of the world, is still on MS Office 2003 and prior. Why? Because later editions CHANGED THE INTERFACE, which conflicts with the many add-ins and macros and other features which made MS Office popular, in the first place.

MS must have a death wish. It's now mentally ill, I just don't know what else to conclude.

[Buzz88]

I'm not well read on this subject, but I can see why they may not want to:

1. They're trying to push the surface tablet and the ability to use office differentiates it from the rest.
2. Apple skims 30% off the sale price, the source of a dispute that has made SkyDrive useless for iPad users.
3. Most people don't want to pay full price for Office on a tablet because tablets are used to view documents, not produce them, so docstogo is more than sufficient.

[miracle00]

An very impressive idea and analysis.

[HollyTucker]

This is insanity. Microsoft sold 60 million copies of Windows 8 in less than three months and now they need Apple? Apple sold 100 million iPads in three years and 120 million Macs in 28 years. So who's market share is bigger and why would you assume that it wont drawf Apple's iPad marketshare within the next few months? Android tablets are now outselling iPads worldwide. If anything... Apple needs Microsoft to fight off Google!

[ChilenoinUSA]

Easy solution...don't buy Apple.

[newyorkcitymale]

Office is the primary reason to buy a Surface RT device (at least until the app market grows), so I don't see Microsoft giving up that ace card anytime soon... and they probably shouldn't.

Office exclusivity gives Windows RT an advantage over iOS and Android.

[iCrapple]

Quote

TsarNikky said
A very interesting observation, in that Microsoft is conceding a huge market. It appears to be so true. Look at Windows-8; clearly not designed for the traditional office/enterprise setting using laptops and desktops working with applications that are and will continue to be keyboard/mouse oriented. Oh well. What do you want to bet it's the old OS war, all over again. MS overvalues its MS Office, thinks that you'll 'have to' use the OS, to get MS Office, which it thinks you need. But you don't. In fact, you can easily pick up an older version of MS Office and run it in Bootcamp or Parallels, and actually get a better MS Office product, one which most of the world still uses. For most of the world, is still on MS Office 2003 and prior. Why? Because later editions CHANGED THE INTERFACE, which conflicts with the many add-ins and macros and other features which made MS Office popular, in the first place. MS must have a death wish. It's now mentally ill, I just don't know what else to conclude.

lol. The majority of users are not still using office 2003. Wow.

[mnj1]

It seems to me that MS Office is to the standard business work environment is what a hammer is to a construction site. All of the work being done by any number of s/w companies trying to provide an Office replacement is evidence of this. MS is the driver's seat and I would assume that they have run the numbers on all of the scenarios related to what they should do (and when). If they decide to support the other mobile platforms, it'll will most likely be because the business uptake wil be there, not because there was a lot of noise on the internet.
Apple, and whoever may need or want MS to provide their platform with the real thing but MS needs to make sure it's the right thing for them to do.

[rak1948]

Quote

This is insanity. Microsoft sold 60 million copies of Windows 8 in less than three months and now they need Apple? Apple sold 100 million iPads in three years and 120 million Macs in 28 years. So who's market share is bigger and why would you assume that it wont drawf Apple's iPad marketshare within the next few months? Android tablets are now outselling iPads worldwide. If anything... Apple needs Microsoft to fight off Google!

Those figures are for Win 8 and are not all purchases by the public yet. Most are to OEMs.
But the most important thing for a company is revenue. How do you get it? Sales of your product. So far MS has sold around 900,000 Surface RTs in the 4th quarter 2012. Apple, in the same quarter, sold 22.9 million iPads.

see: http://news.techworl...demand/?olo=rss

So if MS does not sell Office for iOS they lose out on a large share of the tablet market( Apple's 100 mil. iPads plus Andriod). If MS would sell 1 mil. copies at $30, let's say, and Apple takes 30% that is still a $20 mil. revenue stream and that ain't chump change.

[rak1948]

Quote

lol @ above two comments

Gee. How about adding something constructive to the conversation, huh,bub.

[MobileGeorge]

I didn't see anybody mention that Office is fairly expensive compared to most iPad software. Are people expecting to get Office for $9.99 on the iPad? That'll never happen as it will eat into the sales of Office for the PC.

[Fatesrider]

Please don't anyone take offense at this (thought I know you will because people do), but who in the HELL in their right mind would WANT ANY office suite on a TABLET???

They're toys, designed for consumption. Unless you're one of the pathetic few who have turned your tablet into a crippled, hollow shell of a laptop at far more expense that a far more capable device could deliver, there's no rational REASON to put a PRODUCTIVITY suite on a device designed for CONSUMPTION. What, do you ENJOY pain?

C'mon, now, I mean seriously, folks, what kind of idiot is going to invest in a productivity program for a device designed for something OTHER than productivity? I know Microsoft is stupid enough to cater to that crowd (After all, these people bought a tablet in the first place, so they've got no clue about its inherent form-factor limitations or they'd never have spent the money on such a useless device), but I figure eventually the buying public will see the tablet fad for what it is (a fad) and abandon them as pointless devices once they get over both the new table smell and their buyers remorse. At that point the market for productivity software on a non-productivity devices will dry up. Or is Microsoft's Windows 8 supposed to be the answer to what device (form factor aside) one can shove a pointless bunch of code?

I say stick to the free stuff. You've ALREADY been screwed over enough just by buying a tablet and thinking you can be productive on it compared to a laptop or a desktop. Why add financial insult to productivity injury?

[brainout]

iCrapple, on 04 February 2013 - 08:02 PM, said:

Quote

TsarNikky said
A very interesting observation, in that Microsoft is conceding a huge market. It appears to be so true. Look at Windows-8; clearly not designed for the traditional office/enterprise setting using laptops and desktops working with applications that are and will continue to be keyboard/mouse oriented. Oh well. What do you want to bet it's the old OS war, all over again. MS overvalues its MS Office, thinks that you'll 'have to' use the OS, to get MS Office, which it thinks you need. But you don't. In fact, you can easily pick up an older version of MS Office and run it in Bootcamp or Parallels, and actually get a better MS Office product, one which most of the world still uses. For most of the world, is still on MS Office 2003 and prior. Why? Because later editions CHANGED THE INTERFACE, which conflicts with the many add-ins and macros and other features which made MS Office popular, in the first place. MS must have a death wish. It's now mentally ill, I just don't know what else to conclude.

lol. The majority of users are not still using office 2003. Wow.

LOL yes they are, both here in the US and around the world. You are incompetent to know, and incompetent at posting a quotation, since you lumped my quotation with Tsar Nikky's. So that proves you are a slob, so your opinion or comments are not worth reading.

[brainout]

Fatesrider, on 04 February 2013 - 11:21 PM, said:

Please don't anyone take offense at this (thought I know you will because people do), but who in the HELL in their right mind would WANT ANY office suite on a TABLET???

They're toys, designed for consumption. Unless you're one of the pathetic few who have turned your tablet into a crippled, hollow shell of a laptop at far more expense that a far more capable device could deliver, there's no rational REASON to put a PRODUCTIVITY suite on a device designed for CONSUMPTION. What, do you ENJOY pain?

C'mon, now, I mean seriously, folks, what kind of idiot is going to invest in a productivity program for a device designed for something OTHER than productivity? I know Microsoft is stupid enough to cater to that crowd (After all, these people bought a tablet in the first place, so they've got no clue about its inherent form-factor limitations or they'd never have spent the money on such a useless device), but I figure eventually the buying public will see the tablet fad for what it is (a fad) and abandon them as pointless devices once they get over both the new table smell and their buyers remorse. At that point the market for productivity software on a non-productivity devices will dry up. Or is Microsoft's Windows 8 supposed to be the answer to what device (form factor aside) one can shove a pointless bunch of code?

I say stick to the free stuff. You've ALREADY been screwed over enough just by buying a tablet and thinking you can be productive on it compared to a laptop or a desktop. Why add financial insult to productivity injury?

Well said! Thank you!

[RenzoLazarte]

Quote

Fatesrider said
Please don't anyone take offense at this (thought I know you will because people do), but who in the HELL in their right mind would WANT ANY office suite on a TABLET??? They're toys, designed for consumption. Unless you're one of the pathetic few who have turned your tablet into a crippled, hollow shell of a laptop at far more expense that a far more capable device could deliver, there's no rational REASON to put a PRODUCTIVITY suite on a device designed for CONSUMPTION. What, do you ENJOY pain? C'mon, now, I mean seriously, folks, what kind of idiot is going to invest in a productivity program for a device designed for something OTHER than productivity? I know Microsoft is stupid enough to cater to that crowd (After all, these people bought a tablet in the first place, so they've got no clue about its inherent form-factor limitations or they'd never have spent the money on such a useless device), but I figure eventually the buying public will see the tablet fad for what it is (a fad) and abandon them as pointless devices once they get over both the new table smell and their buyers remorse. At that point the market for productivity software on a non-productivity devices will dry up. Or is Microsoft's Windows 8 supposed to be the answer to what device (form factor aside) one can shove a pointless bunch of code? I say stick to the free stuff. You've ALREADY been screwed over enough just by buying a tablet and thinking you can be productive on it compared to a laptop or a desktop. Why add financial insult to productivity injury?

Tablets could probably work with power point though, or for small changes.