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Google Attacks Microsoft Again: Android 4.4 Ships With Quickoffice
An anonymous reader writes "With Android 4.4 KitKat, Google's biggest blow to Microsoft isn't against Windows Phone. It's against Microsoft Office. You see, KitKat ships with Quickoffice, letting you edit Microsoft Office documents, spreadsheets, and presentations on the go, without paying a dime, straight out of the box. This tidbit was largely lost in the news yesterday, given the large number of improvements and new features that KitKat offers. Yet it's a very big deal: every Android user that upgrades to KitKat will get Google's Quickoffice, and every new Android device (starting with the Nexus 5) that ships with KitKat or higher will also get Quickoffice."
Is this optional or am I required to have it taking up space on my Nexus 4 regardless?
I for one, welcome our new extending embracing and extinguishing Overlords.
Since they acquired them it seems they have dumped no money into improvements. While it is an office editing App, it really needs some work to be "great." Granted, it is much more functional than Microsofts Office 365 backed App.
It's NOT super effective.
Let's get real. An office-ish app on a smart phone is NOT a challenge to a full blown desktop office suite. To suggest that it is indicates an absolute lack of understanding of the user base and use cases for office suites.
In other news patent cartel created by Microsoft and Apple attacks Google and others. Somewhat sad to see when one side of this battle uses product superiority and the other one resorts to lawyers and patent trolls. It just underscores roteness and corrupion of US corporate economy.
Is processing for Quickoffice done off-phone? Or, to put it another way, does Quickoffice share all of your work with Google?
...these medialess new microsoft office versions, where you have to make an account just to download the installer is a pita.
And only being able to upgrade to win 8.1 with the market, not by windows update??? can't download the service pack to a stick??
And the switch to monthly subscription for office is a very bad thing, i hope people realize this aswell!
i hope ms get's a salted bill for all this.
People have been able to edit those formats for years without having to pay a dime. How is this an attack on microsoft, just because this is on a mobile OS? Who wants to edit such files on-the-go anyway?
It's microsoft that attacks everyone with patents and fud.
In many markets Google has a near monopoly position. Their global smart phone market share is around 80% and in some markets it's even higher. Bundling an office suite in order to leverage their dominant operating system is unlikely to sit well with regulators.
..on what office docs you edit.
Thanks google!
pretty sure when i tried out the nokia wp8 phone it came with office on it preinstalled..? for the record.. i really did try to give wp8 a shot, however, i have since switched back to droid
The version that allows for editing MS docs has been recently released in the play store for any android user. Kitkat only has it installed by default, but otherwise it's one install away.
Come on, anti-trust people and European regulators! "How dare they do this anti-competitive bundling!!2!2111!!!!"
Feel that burning rage that makes you want to pound the keyboard and mod me down? Free speech working as intended.
Now answer the question! How dare they? Answer it!
(-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
This is more of an attack against Apple giving away the iWork package for free. MS is barely a blip on the radar.
Trolling is a art,
This is probably about as big a deal as Apple giving away their office suite and iLife package to new customers; nice to have, but not a decision maker.
There are so many different use cases for smartphones and I haven't personally heard any friends or colleagues saying that the ability to edit MS Office apps is anywhere near the top of the list.
For tablet devices, the situation is different and it makes sense for Google to catch up with Microsoft and Apple who already offer free versions of their office software to tablet purchasers. Though if the decision comes down to MS Office RT vs QuickOffice, I know which one I'm going to pick - and it's not the Google ersion.
Backup not found: (A)bort (R)etry (P)anic
Quickoffice? How is ths news? Not long back they made it free, and we even got free extra Google Drive space for downloading and installing it. And it doesn't need to be KitKat, it works with earlier versions as well.
Again, how is this news?
Right.
I am putting myself to the fullest possible use, which is all I can think that any conscious entity can ever hope to do.
Bundling it where it can't be removed, preventing OEMs from installing other browsers, a patch to prevent downloading Netscape ...
The last bloody thing I want to do when out walking, or in a pub or on the bus or anything else when out and about is the bloody well create a word processing document or spreadsheet or what ever.
Geez, what's going on in the world?
I for one, welcome our new extending embracing and extinguishing Overlords.
Google would have to adopt Open Document Format and extend the specification from a monopoly position!! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Embrace,_extend_and_extinguish . I don't thing you understand. The worst part of this is we don't have a standard we have the mess of OOXML after Microsoft polluted the integrity of of ISO to its incredible shame. To protect 60% of its profits from its Office compatibility scam. This in someway goes to expose this scam.
It's NOT super effective.
Let's get real. An office-ish app on a smart phone is NOT a challenge to a full blown desktop office suite. To suggest that it is indicates an absolute lack of understanding of the user base and use cases for office suites.
Its not just a challenge its a threat to 60% of Microsofts Profits. Right now Android passed 1 Billion activations in September(windows is about 1.2Billion), while Microsoft thinks delaying its suite to get people to buy their OS. If you don't think its a treaty then you do not understand how people use Office.
How has Apples iwork annouced on Slashdot "Apple Announces iCloud and iWork For iOS" http://apple.slashdot.org/story/11/05/31/192223/apple-announces-icloud-and-iwork-for-ios
Is the need for such emotive language when talking about Google. Personally I welcome the new competition in the Office field if only Microsoft hadn't abusively corrupted ISO it would be as exciting as browsers are today.
In many markets Google has a near monopoly position. Their global smart phone market share is around 80% and in some markets it's even higher. Bundling an office suite in order to leverage their dominant operating system is unlikely to sit well with regulators.
I sure you were against the inclusion of Microsoft Office crapware with every version of its OS. I personally welcome the EU including a start screen on Desktops. Ignoring that Apple has started to bundle iwork...and Microsoft has started including crippled office with its tablets.. neither of these is available for Android. The reality is though Microsoft Office is the monopoly on Microsofts formats something they secured through buying votes in ISO. This will help stop the current compatibility tax myth.
user of Android 4+ can already get Quickoffice for free through the play store. What's your point?
Entia non sunt multiplicanda praeter necessitatem.
As much as I dislike MS, having Google that is in business of collecting and aggregating information about us ALSO be default office tools provider is even worse.
How long would it take to have mandatory Google+ integration to use it? Thanks, but no thanks.
It's the functionality. Every mobile office suite falls short with features you'd deem basic.
Wasn't it supposed to be Google's alternative? Was it too hard to adapt to mobile?
This post contains no rudeness or derision of any kind. All arguments are friendly. Terms and exclusions may apply.
or it's because english isn't my main language (yes, there are people who's first language isn't english).. but you are right, it should have been 'your', i just hadn't reread my post because i was using a touchscreen keyboard on my tablet to post the specfic post and typing and correcting posts on a tablet just sucks balls..
Sure you can upgrade. If the manufacturer no longer support your device, switch to cyanogenmod android. You can then kick anything 'pre-installed', making lot of room on your device. Then you install the latest versions from google play (or whatever they call android market these days.)
yeah, great, another android fuck-up if you're tablet or phone is pre-loaded with it, you can't update to a newer version unless the manufacturer releases a newer version.. therefore i'm stuck to a very old version of quickoffice on my xoom...
That's not an Android fuck-up. That's the OEM's problem, and it has nothing to do with Android. I chose Nexus devices (4 and 7) to avoid this, as these are the devices Android was written for. For any non-Nexus device, you depend on the OEM for certain things that may or may not occur. As a Slashdot person, surely you know this, right?
Place nail here >+
Buying and including an Office suit so that you're compatible with one the competitions big products ... not really sure how threatened I'd feel ... in fact, I'd consider myself the winner if people were taking those kind of shots at me ...
Persistent Volume manager for Kubernetes - https://github.com/dwimsey/openshift-pvmanager
Except Apple and Microsoft offered Google to join into their conglomerate, but Google declined and wanted to snatch the patents away without Apple and Microsoft.
You can still install the newer version on Google Play if your tablet came installed with the old QuickOffice HD, I just did it on a Dell Streak 7.
I don't have a single device that has anything other than a nightly build of Cyanogenmod. I don't have unpopular devices, either.
For large sets, this will be our guide even unto death, for the LORD will work for each type of data it is applied to...
Somewhat sad to see when one side of this battle uses product superiority
That phrase really has no business being in a comment on a story about Quick Office.
Just saying.
Since when does that happen? I had a SGS2 which had several Google Apps pre-loaded and I was able to update all of them when a new version appeared in Google Play. What you're saying is false.
You could take a minute to, you know, like, look at the Play store (unless you don't have an Android phone and are just ranting to hear yourself scream) and see that this is a free install for any recent Android device. (And you can uninstall it from any Android device also if you don't want it.)
Looks like 1,000,000+ people have downloaded it.
I just installed the latest version on an old HTC phone which has been heavily customized by HTC with the "Sense" interface with no problems.
(I can uninstall it too...)
I don't read your sig. Why are you reading mine?
We'll I can't.. it gives an error (and I'm not the only one), and I cannot deinstall the original one that came with the tablet..
Google declined joining a patent troll shell company that is now suing their OEM partners? How terrible of them.
That's why you root your android device; in fact it's the first thing you do to it - install remove anything you want...
-- Fuck Beta
You do realise that Google has been using its Motorola patent portfolio to sue the exact same companies that are suing it, right?
http://www.fosspatents.com/2013/08/googles-motorola-files-new-german.html?m=1
Google can't claim to be the good guys here.
*sigh*.. If I could uninstall it I would have, it's a common problem (just read some forums).. I have a motorolla xoom tablet.. Yes, QuickOffice is free, I know that too, but before you can install the latest version you need to be able to remove the old one, and that's not possible when QO shipped with your tablet (at least on 'older' devices)..
fosspatents is run by a Microsoft shill. I forgot his name but he admitted to being a shill after he was caught with his pants down.
I would never ever trust anything on that site again. If you have other sources then please list them. I doubt you'll find much since most patent wars are started by either Apple or Microsoft.
Microsoft makes masses of money selling two types of thing that should, TODAY, be free. No-one denies that things cost time and money to create. However, the rule in IT is that, across time, every static function depreciates in value across time, until a point is reached of effectively zero cost.
Put simply, a task that once had a real cost of HUNDREDS of dollars (like MPEG 1 decoding) eventually ends up costing a fraction of ONE dollar. Who can argue that operating systems and office suites should fall outside this mechanism?
Of course, companies like Microsoft spend BILLIONS each year rally an army of shills to bulls**t the line that "innovation" in this year's version of their OS or office suite justifies the 150+ dollar price tag, whereas in reality the functionality of the version of either from more than a decade back, on the vastly more powerful hardware of today, would suffice with minimal changes.
And, part of the depreciation process is how FREE software solutions can replicate even the most 'complex' parts of anything MS sells (and, in reality, FREE software handles complexity vastly better than MS's solutions- which are almost always very poorly coded).
What we get today is a devolution of usability with the OS and office from Microsoft, with crappy gimmicks sold on the basis of 'high fashion' interfering with the ease with which commonly required functionality is activated and achieved. One expects a MS program circa 2013 to have great difficultly even scrolling down a very large, 'complex' document, now that MS uses dozens of layers of abstracted coding methods, rather than hitting the screen with a well-coded C/C++ application, as would have been the case ten years back.
Wasting the power of your modern PC has been ESSENTIAL for the continued growth of both Intel and Microsoft. With the rise of low-capacity mobile battery powered devices, this philosophy has had to change, and designers noticed that almost EVERY heavy CPU operation could be moved to the GPU or dedicated hardware blocks- locations where the cost of a given level of calculation does significantly fall EVERY year.
You think a good OS or office suite should cost you hundreds of dollars every few years for the SAME reason Egyptian mothers of Christian, Jewish or Muslim background think their daughters MUST have significant genital mutilation- because you've heard this lie from every 'social' source around you for so long, you don't even CONCEIVE of the idea of questioning it. You nerds think religious types who cut their kiddies are idiots, but you are just as bad. Most nerds are just as unquestioning about the status quo factors in their own world.
However, Microsoft and Intel do NOT justify the expense of their platform- but its SUCCESS does. Windows is not inherently good save for the fact that it has become a universal platform. But now the market is moving, and the age of Microsoft and Intel is finally drawing to a close, just as CP/M and the Z80 before it also fell (after a reign that was far shorter, but just as significant).
Microsoft's last ploy will be to say only "smelly cheapskate idiots, or Apple fashionistas refuse to use expensive MS products", and pay ever more shills to spam this message everywhere. The rest of us will recall that MS's most impressive, responsive and usable version of Office lies long ago in their past.
I needed to view a Word document in a hurry. I got a copy of QuickOffice from Amazon when it was a free app-of-the-day last year, but opted to try Google's more recent flavor. Google insisted I logged in, and refused to do anything if I just wanted to use a Word document on my SD card. There was NO reason for this. I, for one, disapprove of this change, regardless of any of the others.
Really? If you go to the play store page for quickoffice, you will see that all that is required for Quickoffice to run is Android 2.2. BTW, I am not talking about the quickoffice viewer that comes with every android, but rather the editor. Check again here:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.quickoffice.android&hl=en
Your OEM probably changed the signature on the APK they pre-installed.
You can upgrade a pre-installed APK from Google Play. This is not a problem. Unless, that is, the package name for the new and old APKs is the same, but the signing certificate is not. This is not a bad thing, except when %!@#(*# OEMs re-sign APKs they pre-install.
I made a living off localizing android systems for the local market, and I always had a bit of a hard time explaining to the clients why I couldn't localize none-core apps (which include the Google Play itself, for which the Hebrew translation seems to have been done by someone quite illiterate).
Shachar
therefore i'm stuck to a very old version of quickoffice on my xoom...
What the...?
You can update the pre-installed version of (almost) any app from the Play Store or by side loading without any problem.
The first thing that happens when I do a factory reset on an Android device is that the Play Store wants to update half of the pre-installed apps.
But this is not an Android fuck-up, as you claimed, but a Motorola fuck-up, if anything.
On all 6 of my Android devices (from 4 different makers) I can update pre-installed apps without problem.
If you really would have to remove the old version on the Xoom to install a new version you should be able to do that by rooting your device. After that you can usually remove pre-installed apps as you can get write access to the system folders.
The way you worded your original statement is just plain wrong.
(And don't come with the 'I'm not a native English speaker' excuse. I'm neither.)
I have to admit this is like watching a fistfight between Adolf Hitler and Iosef Stalin, it's unclear whom to root for when both are the epitomes of pure evil... but either way, this HURTS the rest of us by reducing the motivation for people to adopt ODT format (etc.,) for daily use with WYSIWYG text document editing, when the people can now edit M$ Proprietary DOC format for free.
This is a Band-aid (TM) fix on a sucking chest-wound. It won't help. No, worse actually, a shaving-nick DOT on a gaping head-wound is more like it. We need to work to wrest control of standards from those who would use them to line their own pockets at our expense, and hold our ability to exchange ideas and documents for ransom. /rant.
You jut need to leave the good ol' USofA and go somwhere civilised then. These are American (carrier) problems.
Except Apple and Microsoft offered Google to join into their conglomerate, but Google declined and wanted to snatch the patents away without Apple and Microsoft.
Problem is, that wouldn't have helped them, because Apple & MS could still go after the manufacturers of Android devices, and Google could do nothing to stop it. Without hardware manufacturers Android doesn't exist, so they had to have their own to use as a defensive shield for their manufacturers.
Have a KitKat.
Then, send a critical "security" update out for all office products.
Change the file structure a little, prevent non-office applications from loading new files.
Happy to help MS!
That is wrong. You can update any preinstalled app as if it were a Google Play app. Stop spreading bullshit you shill.
If you have rooted it, as I assume a /. user would have, there are a million apps to uninstall preinstalled apps, for example: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.jumobile.manager.systemapp&hl=en
Just be careful not to uninstall the Phone app or something.
i aint never went to college.
That sounds wrong. Shouldn't it be "i aint never went to no college."?
*sigh*.. If I could uninstall it I would have, it's a common problem (just read some forums).. I have a motorolla xoom tablet.. Yes, QuickOffice is free, I know that too, but before you can install the latest version you need to be able to remove the old one, and that's not possible when QO shipped with your tablet (at least on 'older' devices)..
Just root the damn thing and remove it with titanium backup or one of the countless root uninstaller apps on Google Play. Rooting a Xoom is pretty trivial, in fact here is an idiot-proof guide: http://androidcommunity.com/motorola-xoom-root-the-easy-way-with-1-click-root-and-overclock-guide-20110331/
fosspatents is run by a Microsoft shill. I forgot his name but he admitted to being a shill after he was caught with his pants down
Florian Müller would be the name of the particular douche-nozzle in question.
Just read some f-ing forums in regard to QO, without rooting you cannot 'update' older versions of QO.. I'm not spreading BS, you are..
And THAT's the problem with QO that is shipped with the Xoom..
Really? and you don't think I (and other Xoom users) already tried that?
With any rootable device, you can just delete the old APK from the system folder and clear the package cache. Problem solved.
Shachar
By coincidence, I was looking for a better option to read/edit office files on my Galaxy s3. I almost bailed the minute I read that storage was in the Google Cloud. Why in bog's name should I continue to give my personal data to Google? Look, I know there is no privacy on The Internet, but I refuse to give my assent. In any case, I started the install and backed out again when it stated that network access was required. Then I figured, maybe it is only required if I CHOOSE to accept their offer of 15GB of cloud storage. I installed and opened Quickoffice. On the first screen it was asking me to specify the account I would use for Google. Evaluation period over, uninstall. Sewer rat might taste like punkin' pie but I'll never know 'cause I'll never eat the bastard.
You're doing better than a lot of native speakers. Since you don't speak natively I'm sure you appreciate the instruction.
Free Martian Whores!
Yes I do appreciate it.. just like the anonymous above here corrects me for the use of "who's" which should have been "whose", that's one I didn't notice...