MS Office Tablet Delay Gives Google a Real Chance, and Not Just Google Apps 108
rtfa-troll writes "Microsoft Office slideware for iOS and Android has been resisting many migrations to Google Apps. Although a number of the largest companies, from KLM to Disney, have already moved to Google Apps, most large companies are still using Microsoft Office heavily. The majority of current Google users are smaller businesses. Now Microsoft has been forced to admit that its office suite for Android will be delayed by at least a year and Zdnet tells us that Google will be the big winner from that. However, they also say QuickOffice, rather than Google Apps, will be the main winner. Other Android app suites will benefit too, though currently the Android version of LibreOffice is only available as a dev build for sideloading and is having some difficulties packaging for Google Play, so it may not benefit from this delay unless more volunteers step up to help. Microsoft relies heavily on Office for revenue, so this may represent a real, long-term threat to the company."
how hard is it to make a word processor? (Score:4, Insightful)
there are dozens in the iOS app store. Pages is the closest thing to word and some are nothing more than text editors.
either way you don't need the entire MS Office on a mobile device. just a few features to use on the road or train
Re:Really? (Score:5, Insightful)
I don't care as much about the cloud aspect - although I'm sure most large companies will. The issue for me is that I simply can't imagine doing a presentation or a spreadsheet on my tablet and not having it be a painful experience. Writing long e-mails on an iPad is already no fun; a document with formatting and tables seems practically like an exercise in masochism.
I can read Office documents on my iPad already. I still view it (other than short e-mails) as a content consumption device, not a content creation device... even if it had a snap-on keyboard. So I just don't get why the presence of an office suite on a tablet/mobile device is a big deal. Your mileage may vary.
Re:Really? (Score:5, Insightful)
I am a chemistry teacher, which means my work involves symbols, sub- and superscripts, diagrams, etc. Creating that sort of work on a tablet / phone is painful. I don't see that changing any time soon, either. A dedicated keyboard allows multi-key commands (Ctrl-Shift-= for superscript, etc) that a tablet cannot do. A mouse allows for nested menus with thousands of options. That's a no-go for tablets.
For me, mobile = consumption and desktop = production.
Office work on tablets/Phones.. (Score:4, Insightful)
A really really dumb idea. Its one of those areas where people need to comprehend what a tablet is good and not good at. Reading office documents is viable, but actually doing office level work? No no no.
Slowly losing relevance? (Score:5, Insightful)
Microsoft has more or less relied on Office and upgrades of Windows for years for revenue, and have for the most part kept it as a Windows-only piece.
As other office suites come along, and other OSes as well, Microsoft seems to be now finding themselves trying to remain relevant.
Would most people with an Android tablet even *want* Microsoft Office for it? It seems that if you wanted the full Microsoft experience, you'd have bought one of their tablets. And if you didn't want the Microsoft experience, you won't be looking for this software.
I don't really see Microsoft as a company who really innovates -- I'm hard pressed to think of a single product which Microsoft invented/pioneered, and which is what people want.
The OS took years to catch up to what others were already doing. Office is certainly a feature rich mature piece of software, but many of us don't find ourselves needing Excel and PowerPoint in our non-work lives. Moving the Start button or some of the changes lately have been mostly decorative and not revolutionary.
The Kinect is neat, but like so many products someone else innovated and Microsoft purchased.
A late delayed release of Office for Android? I suspect there's an awful lot of yawns which accompany that news.
As to innovating anything new and groundbreaking, we'll see if Microsoft ever does that. I'm hard pressed to come up with any examples, current or past, of stuff that they've released which was truly 'new' and lasting -- mostly it's been clones of products other companies have already been shipping, and many of them weren't exactly huge successes (like the Zune for instance).
Tablets could be good for drawing and note taking (Score:4, Insightful)
I still view it (other than short e-mails) as a content consumption device, not a content creation device... even if it had a snap-on keyboard.
There is one type of content creation a tablet could in theory be good for, namely anything requiring a pen. We all still use lots of pens so the need is obviously there. A tablet could be great for drawing and note taking (think equations or diagrams which are nearly impossible on a keyboard or with fingers) if the interface was done right. There is a reason most students still take notes on paper. Problem is that we are stuck finger-painting on our tablets which doesn't work for those purposes. A tablet should be the perfect device for students to take notes on but no one makes them right now with that task in mind. A tablet could be a great content creation device for the right applications.
The problem with using a stylus on a tablet is that the software designers invariably and wrongly try to use the stylus for navigation or as a keyboard instead of just using it for what it is actually good for which is ONLY drawing. The fact that you can draw alpha-numerics or point at navigation buttons is just a bonus but they get all excited and try to use the stylus for things it does do well. They (historically) have tried to use a stylus like a mouse pointer which demonstrably doesn't work well since the interfaces were designed for keyboards/mice combos. Or they try to turn it into a keyboard for text input which doesn't work either (too slow and character recognition generally sucks). A stylus/pen is for drawing and only for drawing. Even interfaces which are designed for fingers don't really translate well to a pen - pens are for drawing thin lines, not pushing buttons. You don't (typically) use a pen to push a button when you hold a real pen so why would you do it on a tablet?
Re:Really? (Score:3, Insightful)
Wait, what? Do you even know what you're talking about?
Metro is just a fancy desktop replacement. It offers little to no functional purpose. Why do you think it failed? It's not because Microsoft's own products couldn't support it. It's because it was a useless waste of screen space and mouse clicks. Office runs "natively" on Metro as far as it can, i.e. there's a button to start Office apps through Metro. That's it. There's no other requirement to being "native". Metro is not an architecture thing, it's just window dressing replacing the desktop. It's like replacing the glass panes of your greenhouse with fancy curtains. Well, you still need those glass panes, hence the neutered "desktop" that still ships with Windows 8 and RT. Only now, you can't let sunlight in without first brushing aside those damn curtains every time.
The DOJ did squat. Microsoft had so much cash in its vaults in preparation for the antitrust sentence that they ended up paying their shareholders a ton of dividend afterwards because the fine was so small. Do you really think that if the DOJ's actions hurt Microsoft in any way, they would have left over cash to spread to their shareholders afterwards?
No, Microsoft's failures are due to incompetence at the top. Like all other large, made companies, they got soft and stopped taking risks. They encouraged their senior management to fight and jostle among each other for the CEO's good graces. They let people with vision and talent go, while refusing to "retire" the useless, good-for-nothings that are even now still fighting over their standings with Ballmer.
Cream rises to the top. So does shit. Large companies accumulate a lot of shit, and all it takes is for one chunk to stain the cream brown and turn it into shit too. Most companies try to keep their shit from rising, but Microsoft funnily enough promoted one to CEO.