Slashdot Mirror


MS Office For Android: Pretty, But Woefully Incomplete

mattydread23 writes "The new Office 365 app for Android, launched a week ago, has a super nice UI, but lacks a bunch of basic features and has some really weird oversights — including a classic Microsoft dialog box that offers a choice that makes no sense. 'Overall, it still feels like Microsoft is still trying to funnel people toward its own Windows Phone if they want a better experience. In fact, in a question on an FAQ about how the Android Office app compares to the Windows Phone Office app, Microsoft says this: “Office Mobile on Windows Phone 8 provides a richer, more integrated experience,” and goes on to specify how. That’s a losing strategy when so many other apps — many of them free — offer a richer experience on Android and iOS.' "

8 of 174 comments (clear)

  1. Should be called Office Lite by ackthpt · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Considering the number of people on Android, they could get the impression that Office 365 is a poor hack and opt for something else. Stupid, short-sighted move by Microsoft.

    --

    A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
  2. Re:Typical Microsoft approach by houstonbofh · · Score: 5, Insightful

    My grandfather used to call it "Tripping over nickels to pinch pennies." Using Office to push an unpopular tablet, to someone who already owns a tablet, only promotes the Office alternatives.

  3. Re:Typical Microsoft approach by 0123456 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    They do, but despite mathematics being compulsory for most CS courses .. geeks just don't get it.

    Microsoft have a dominant market position in the smart phone and tablet markets?

    You must be using some new branch of mathematics that I wasn't previously aware of.

  4. Re:Just Perfect in Windows Phone by rudy_wayne · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I understand that microsoft wants to serve their user even in android mobile but their software is only perfect when it is applied in their own os and not in other OS.

    The OS is irrelevant. Windows, OSX, whatever, it doesn't matter. The problem is trying to put an application like Office on a phone. Sorry, but that's just stupid.

  5. Another Nail In An Abusive Monopolist by tuppe666 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Microsoft still has not learned to compete without being abusive monopolist, especially in a market with many competing products. People buy office for compatibility Insurance...Cue scenarios where a power-point document not working justifies the cost to a home user of £8($12) A month...The cost of a top of the range 7" tablet every two years. Competing products are free or equivalent to a one off payment about the same as Microsoft one month from Microsoft. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.microsoft.office.officehub read the reviews the product is simply annoying what should be potential customers by overcharging for an Office product.

    The fact that this software is impossible to find on the play store(unlike 365 Sex positions...seriously there are not that many)...its incompatible with my devices, and doesn't work on the more useful tablets!? Microsoft do not understand that people will buy into there ecosystem if you offer them a great product...at great value. If those exist, potential customers may be more willing to look at Microsoft's hardware offerings as something more than a sad joke.

  6. WinCE was once big by dutchwhizzman · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Apple and Google rule the smart phone world now, but before the iPhone you wanted WinCE devices like the XDA and iPaq. They had the chance and the market position but failed to conquer the iPhone successfully. By the time there was "Apple, BlackBerry and the rest" Google got in and by combining google accounts and multiple vendors offering the same OS, they got their current position. MicroSoft kept trying combining their desktop business model and apps with mobile, resulting in expensive phones that lacked features people wanted and came with features people weren't interested in at that price point. Developers were angry because all their apps needed to be rewritten for newer winCE/windows phone versions and if you wanted a newer windows phone version, you had to buy a new phone with it. There was a lot of inconsistency and doubt about how future proof an investment in the mobile windows phone platform would be for almost any party in the smart phone economy, resulting in people betting on other horses.

    MicroSoft had the position, they created it themselves and then lost it once the smart phone really started taking off as a platform. MicroSoft had their way, they worked hard for it but they thought that they could pull another MS-DOS on the organizer-turned-smart-phone and then messed it up.

    --
    I was promised a flying car. Where is my flying car?
  7. Who cares? by aaaaaaargh! · · Score: 3, Insightful

    What do you want with an office package on a phone or tablet anyway? Are there really any people who write lengthy documents on their glossy, greasy tablet touch screens?

    Really, this telephone and tablet hype bullshit is just becoming ridiculous.

  8. Re:Typical Microsoft approach by DrXym · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I have yet to see a virtual keyboard which is remotely as fast as a physical keyboard and I very much doubt you have either.