OSNews: http://www.osnews.com/story/26528/Microsoft_Office_for_iOS_Android_revealed Exploring the Future of Computing en-us Copyright 2001-2013, David Adams adam+nospam@osnews.com Wed, 22 May 2013 15:15:36 GMT http://www.osnews.com/images/osnews.gif OSNews.com http://www.osnews.com Finally http://www.osnews.com/thread?541255 http://www.osnews.com/thread?541255 My long held vision of using my Nokia N800 as a desktop might finally come true: Samsung Note II + Jelly Bean + Office 365!

Too bad I had to wait long enough to realize that laptops are way better. Wed, 07 Nov 2012 15:16:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (earksiinni) Comments Subscription required for editing... http://www.osnews.com/thread?541256 http://www.osnews.com/thread?541256 I knew that had to be the only way MS would do this. Their phone isn't going to capture market share overnight nor will the Windows tablet like things take over the tablet market. If they aren't careful someone else will take over the office app category for those devices, with the possibility to then spread to the desktop.

I still can't understand why libre/open office hasn't tried to fill that gap. Wed, 07 Nov 2012 15:24:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Bill Shooter of Bul) Comments RE: Subscription required for editing... http://www.osnews.com/thread?541259 http://www.osnews.com/thread?541259 Because OOo's build system was really messed up and LibreOffice inherited it. You can only compile natively, no cross-compilations. I should know, I tried to compile OOo for Maemo back in the day and switched to AbiWord once I learned this wasn't possible (see first thread in the comments for this article).

If LibreOffice hasn't fixed that yet, the very good question remains: why? Wed, 07 Nov 2012 15:46:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (earksiinni) Comments RE[2]: Subscription required for editing... http://www.osnews.com/thread?541262 http://www.osnews.com/thread?541262 Because coding on Office clones for free is a rather boring way to spend your life I suspect.

The best software is written when the developers are filling a need they themselves have, but anyone who needs an Office suite can go out and buy Office. If LibreOffice comes up with some more innovative plan than being like Office, but free, and a bit more 2003, I doubt it will actually go anywhere without a lot of money to pay developers to work on it. Wed, 07 Nov 2012 16:06:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (vaette) Comments RE[3]: Subscription required for editing... http://www.osnews.com/thread?541263 http://www.osnews.com/thread?541263 Well, I had a very real need to have a fully-fledged word processor on my Nokia N800 (see first thread in the comments for this article), which is what drove me to OOo and then AbiWord in the first place. Assuming that the build system hasn't been fixed yet, I'm surprised that there hasn't been a critical mass of OSS devs who have a similar need for their Android/iOS devices and haven't fixed the system accordingly yet. Or maybe that mass exists but the build system is broken beyond repair. Wed, 07 Nov 2012 16:46:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (earksiinni) Comments Am I missing something here? http://www.osnews.com/thread?541288 http://www.osnews.com/thread?541288 OK, "viewing documents on the move" is a little far-fetched when you need an active Net connection to do so. You also have to pay a subscription to edit docs too!

So how is this better than the free/cheap Office document viewers/editors that are already out there on Android/iOS? Heck, I've already got two of them from Amazon UK's Free App of the Day (Smart Office 2 and OfficeSuite Professional 6)...Edited 2012-11-07 19:39 UTC Wed, 07 Nov 2012 19:39:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (rklrkl) Comments RE: Am I missing something here? http://www.osnews.com/thread?541291 http://www.osnews.com/thread?541291 Better in the lines of Microsoft's view point and interests - and for business' wanting software that, you would think or wish, should have no issues at all working with Office Docs.

But as a general consumer that have options like the free Kingsoft Office mobile app and what you've mentioned above, who just wants to be able to read some documents or make an occassional document, not much there really. Wed, 07 Nov 2012 20:01:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (grumpyoldman) Comments RE[4]: Subscription required for editing... http://www.osnews.com/thread?541296 http://www.osnews.com/thread?541296 They were working on something like that at the beginning of the year, don't know how the port has progressed since though.

http://arstechnica.com/business/2012/02/libreoffice-developer-shows... Wed, 07 Nov 2012 20:17:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Neolander) Comments Can't wait to.... http://www.osnews.com/thread?541311 http://www.osnews.com/thread?541311 "Yes, let's pay that monthly subscription so that I can finally use my 4 inch smartphone to write 300-pages report with tables, graphics, footnotes and styles"

.... said no one

Whose need does this fulfil, apart from Microsoft shareholders'?Edited 2012-11-07 22:38 UTC Wed, 07 Nov 2012 22:37:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (PieterGen) Comments RE: Subscription required for editing... http://www.osnews.com/thread?541315 http://www.osnews.com/thread?541315 Microsoft is in an difficult position, for years they preached that the general public NEEDED MSOffice and Outlook on their computers. But the public decided otherwise and bought iPads, Macs and Android devices. Hundreds of milions of them, all without those "essential" Microsoft programs...and they found out they didn't need them.

So, here comes plan B...sell Office to Android and iOS users...who have lived happily without MSOffice, why would they need out now? Wed, 07 Nov 2012 23:11:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (PieterGen) Comments But Why? http://www.osnews.com/thread?541322 http://www.osnews.com/thread?541322 Why do we need that afterall? My experience has told me that people who still stuck with MS Office nowadays are either a) slaved to use it, or b) incompetent to move on.Edited 2012-11-08 00:55 UTC Thu, 08 Nov 2012 00:54:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (shinkou) Comments Just what every user wants… http://www.osnews.com/thread?541327 http://www.osnews.com/thread?541327 Yes, Microsoft, please give us all another bill. That's what we all want. We beg for it.
I can't help but think, each time I hear an announcement from Microsoft, that they keep losing just a bit more touch with reality as the days go by. This would benefit no one save Microsoft's shareholders and, if people don't go for it, not even them. The only market for this type of system might, and I do repeat might, be large businesses where the company pays for x amount of accounts and they are used on the company's machines or tablets. Home users though? Forget it. Microsoft missed the boat on the home tablets, and they sure won't reclaim most of them with a subscription system. Thu, 08 Nov 2012 01:28:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (darknexus) Comments An account just to read a Word doc? http://www.osnews.com/thread?541333 http://www.osnews.com/thread?541333 An account just to read a Word doc? Baloney. Thu, 08 Nov 2012 02:29:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (benali72) Comments Comment by kaiwai http://www.osnews.com/thread?541400 http://www.osnews.com/thread?541400 Could someone inform me how another rumour confirms the existence of something? do people actually read the article linked because it is quite clear what the article said in the first paragraph:

The Verge has learned through several sources close to Microsoft's plans that the company will release Office versions for Android and iOS in early 2013.


That isn't confirmation, that is rumour - confirmation would be Microsoft themselves coming out and announcing it formally. Thu, 08 Nov 2012 09:04:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (kaiwai) Comments RE: Can't wait to.... http://www.osnews.com/thread?541498 http://www.osnews.com/thread?541498
"Yes, let's pay that monthly subscription so that I can finally use my 4 inch smartphone to write 300-pages report with tables, graphics, footnotes and styles"

.... said no one

Whose need does this fulfil, apart from Microsoft shareholders'?


If there are folks out there who want productivity software that's governed by cell carrier-style contracts (complete with minimum terms of 1 year & early termination penalties), then Office 365 is a great choice. Thu, 08 Nov 2012 21:34:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (StephenBeDoper) Comments