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."

Comments

But I don't want it.

[richy freeway]

Is this optional or am I required to have it taking up space on my Nexus 4 regardless?

Is Google upgrading Quickoffice at all?

[hsmith]

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.

Documents shared with Google?

[mbone]

Is processing for Quickoffice done off-phone? Or, to put it another way, does Quickoffice share all of your work with Google?

I smell antitrust lawsuits

[GauteL]

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.

and forcing OEMs, "IE cannot open Netscape.com"

[raymorris]

Bundling it where it can't be removed, preventing OEMs from installing other browsers, a patch to prevent downloading Netscape ...

Actually, that's an OEM problem.

[MasterOfGoingFaster]

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?

Re:Actually, that's an OEM problem.

[SuperDre]

Yes it's an android fuckup, for letting OEM's being able to do it in the first place.. the motorolla xoom was the honeycomb developer device, so it was the 'nexus' device in that time, and that's the one that I have and is having the problem..