MS Office Tablet Delay Gives Google a Real Chance, and Not Just Google Apps

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."

Comments

Really?

[binarylarry]

Is Google introducing some type of "uncloud" feature for Google Docs?

I like Google Docs but it sucks having confidential business materials out in the cloud somewhere.

Re:Really?

[schnell]

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?

[Covalent]

This.

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.

Re:Really?

[technomom]

There's already an offline feature for Google Apps, it's called Offline Docs. But yeah, it's still not quite there yet.

Re:Really?

[theskipper]

According to the Microsoft pad-thingy commercials, you can create content while hand-walking across a desk or dancing as an angry cheerleader. So toughen up soldier, if they can do it you can too.

Re:Really?

[mabhatter654]

QuickOffice is their offline product. It has been floating around since the Palm days to read MS Office docs. The only problem is that QuickOffice never picked up OpenOffice file types... And that is what Google Docs are built on natively.

If Google would move on the OpenOffice compatibility they could grab a bunch of Linux Desktop offices as well that use LibreOffice included in lots of distros. And LibreOffice is free for Macs and PCs so google could do a Google Docs plugin.

Microsoft has allowed too much NIH from MS Office management and they are about to lose their Monopoly money. They were supposed to have a native Dot Net version of Office 3-5 years ago.. They could have been running it on Xboxes... But the Office team couldn't do the job. They couldn't deliver a Native Metro Office either... So the Office team not doing their homework means Windows RT has to run a "fake desktop" for MICROSOFT'S FLAGSHIP PRODUCT. That's not Winning. So is it a surprise that MS can't get an iOS or Android version out? Microsoft has lashed their shops together so tightly they can't pick them apart... They can't even keep up a MAC version of Office without a year lead time.

So while the FOJ was utterly ineffective in intro long Microsoft's behavior with the law, at least Microsoft's 10 year focus on bending and weaseling out of the DOJ rules took their collective eyeballs off MAKING SOFTWARE. (Kin and Courier could have won them back share YEARS ago) And now the little ships like Apple and Google have paddled far enough away on different directions Microsoft can't hurt them anymore.

Re:Really?

[kidgenius]

As an engineer, let me recommend one way of improving your speed at writing out superscripted/subscripted formulas, along with other mathematical symbols; use LibreOffice. It has a built-in equation editor that works quite well. You can just type in and it will automatically reformat. For instance, typing "H_2 O" would subscript the 2. Doing "x^2+x+1" would superscript the 2.

Slowly losing relevance?

[gstoddart]

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).