Should Microsoft Put Office On the iPad?

theodp writes "Microsoft is working on a touch-friendly version of Office for Windows 8, writes GeekWire's Todd Bishop. But what about Microsoft Office on the iPad? 'The decision,' Bishop says, 'will say a lot about Microsoft's priorities in this new era. The company can give Windows 8 a boost if it makes Office exclusive to Windows-based tablets. But that's also a risk. The iPad's momentum not only in the home but in the workplace opens the door for Office alternatives to take hold on the Apple tablet, posing a challenge to Microsoft Office.' Over at Minimal Mac, Patrick Rhone feels Microsoft has bigger problems than the lack of Office apps for iOS and Android. 'Like the curtain finally falling from the Wizard of Oz to find just a small, frail, man pretending to be far more powerful and relevant than he really was,' writes Rhone, 'Microsoft's biggest miss was allowing the world to finally see the truth behind the big lie — they were not needed to get real work done. Or anything done, really. And that will be what ultimately kills them.' Perhaps, but BusinessInsider — which finds it just can't quit Excel — also makes a case for why Microsoft should put Office on every platform. Speaking of the future of Office, did you ever notice how people use MS-Word to convince people to use Google Docs?"

Comments

Would *I* use it?

[Anonymous Coward]

No way. Typing on my iPad is one of the most awkward things I do in a day, but I don't blame the device. There are people in my same department at work that I have seen knock out multipage emails on one as if sitting at a regular computer.

I dunno, I just can't do it so Office would be worthless. My iPad is basically a youtube, game device, photoviewer, and mastubatory aid (porn).

I guess I'm a retard

Re:Would *I* use it?

[WrongSizeGlass]

And this is a silly point. I was going to buy a BT keyboard for my ipad on several occasions but every time I had it in my hands and walking to the register I put it back because the words in my head kept ringing..."If you need to type that much, just grab the laptop you always have with you anyways"

This is very true - for those that have laptops. As tablets become more powerful and more popular, individuals and companies will have choices to make: laptop, netbook and/or tablet? It probably won't be one of each (and may only be one if budgets continue to shrink). Some Android tablets already offer video out options, and it's not farfetched to see a tablet replacing a netbook or laptop when hooked to a docking station for some users.

It's not all about the right now. In 2, 3 or maybe 5 years, things will be very different (just look back a few years and see how far tablets and smartphones have come). I don't subscribe to the 'everything on the cloud' philosophy, but the 'cloud' isn't going away and many companies are embracing it for file & data storage. The cloud is a solution to some of the problems created by portable devices. Microsoft needs to find its place in all of this, and better pick soon because in a few years it won't be as easy to get traction, marketshare or mindshare.

I'm not sure I see the need

[Nursie]

I guess I can see the attraction of running powerpoint presentations from the iPad, but Office in general, is there a point?

I can't imagine you'd want to be doing a lot of text input on it, would you?

This in mind, it seems to me the whole thing is a non-story. MS is now an also-ran in the phone biz, and has no footprint at all in the tablet market. Office or no office, it doesn't seem to matter.

Re:I'm not sure I see the need

[Nursie]

Remember the old adage: no one ever got fired for buying IBM? In the current corporate culture it's pretty much the same for buying Microsoft.

Yes, but I'm not sure that applies where tablets are concerned. It doesn't seem to help them in the corporate phone market.

Except that 'Metro' isn't just Windows 8, it is the future UI paradigm for Windows/Microsoft. IE 10 will have two versions, Metro and 'traditional'. I don't think MS is going to continue to create two versions in the future. Windows 9 will take things one steep further - probably a compatibility mode or VM for traditional applications - or perhaps eliminate traditional 'windowed' apps all together. Windows 8 is a transitional product release for Microsoft.

In which case I see a lot of people moving on from windows, especially in the enterprise, or doing as they did with Vista and just not bothering to move.

Re:Microsoft already is

[ddocjohn]

Office file formats are not going anyway. I got modded down here a few times saying I can't leave Office because I can not guarantee that my resume will look the same on someone elses computer running Office if I make it under LibraOffice. For that reason it will stay forever in business and MS Office is not going anyway as suppliers and customers will think you are incompentent if you send a document that looks funny on their computer.

If you can't figure out how to make a pdf then maybe they're right.

Re:Ah, Excel

[fph il quozientatore]

Everything you list is a shortcoming of the specific interface that you are using, not of the database concept itself. The way I see it, the problem is that nobody bothered to write a UI for a database that makes it look easy and simple to edit like an Excel spreadsheet. If you agree with this view, then Excel is just another database with the absurd limitation of constraining you to fit everything into one big table (data, calculations, output formatting).