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Microsoft Brings Office To Android Smartphones For Free
Mark Wilson writes: After a few weeks in preview, Microsoft Office is now available for Android smartphones. Despite Microsoft's mobile-first, cloud-first philosophy, it has actually taken some time to bring the world's most popular office suite to Android phones — it joins the tablet version of the suite that was released last year. Just like the tablet editions, the phone versions of Word, Excel, and PowerPoint won't cost you a penny, allowing for the viewing and editing of a range of files when on the move. There is a cloud focus with support for not only OneDrive, but also Google Drive, Dropbox, and Box, and Microsoft says it has made changes based on the feedback received during the preview period.
104Mb download just for Word on its own.
Wow. Seems like all those years of bloated coding are coming back to bite them.
Install office with very limited use on a mobile, and you lose half a Gig of internal storage on your smartphone and still might have to pay for an Office 365 subscription.
Limited functionality unless you have an Office 365 account you can sign into to unlock all the features.
Free means no charge and there are no ads. You only pay if you want to use advanced features that you need to have an Office 365 subscription to unlock.
But the average person likely only cares about viewing and simple editing tasks which can be done without the Office 365 subscription.
While you can download the apps for free, you get a lite version of the apps. To get full functionality, you have to have a paying subscription to Office 365.
"Advanced features" like being able to write in a blank document, or change a character in an existing one.
Basically it's view-only unless you pay.
That's not so bad for smartphone, but absolutely no different to the tablet versions at all (which are effectively useless beyond being a free document viewer, which you can get thousands of).
Considering how poorly files move between different versions of Office for the same platform (and some times even between the same version for the same platform!) I look forward to now being able to trash my files on the go. Thank you Microsoft, I have been wishing for some time that you would find a way to make my files even more fragile yet.
Damn_registrars has no butt-hole. Damn_registrars has no use for a butt-hole.
Or Office for that matter.
The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
Or you could just use Google Docs in your browser. Unsurprisingly also supports Google Drive.
So MS makes a pointless app, and makes it free!
I've installed it to edit my CV. Most features are there, and I could open and edit a new blank doc. You need a Microsoft account to sign on, but an Office 365 subscription isn't needed. Who going to be worried about tracked changes whilst using a tablet?
I do not develop big complicated documents on my phone.
For my phone, a standard text editor is more than enough.
If somebody emails a .docx file, I'll wait until I am on a computer with LibreOffice.
Ah, the sweet nostalgia of BSOD on my smartphone.
Table-ized A.I.
... as that would show the absolutely low quality of their code
What is directly known about Microsoft code doesn't support your argument. For example, after the Windows 2000 code leak several people did their own analysis of the code. For example, kuro5hin concluded:
In short, there is nothing really surprising in this leak. Microsoft does not steal open-source code. Their older code is flaky, their modern code excellent. Their programmers are skilled and enthusiastic. Problems are generally due to a trade-off of current quality against vast hardware, software and backward compatibility.
Note that last sentence: Problems are generally due to a trade-off of current quality against vast hardware, software and backward compatibility.
More recently, static code analysis was done on the legally released Word for Windows 1.1a by PVS-Studio. They concluded:
I have found very few strange fragments. There are two reasons for that. Firstly, I found the code to be skillfully and clearly written. Secondly, the analysis had to be incomplete, while teaching the analyzer the specifics of the old C language wouldn't be of any use.
In short, there may be many reasons not to pay for Microsoft's software. Your perception of the quality of their code is not one.
Now, Microsoft have a Cloud interface that works on all platform (Win, IOS, OSX, Linux), Google don't.
Now, Microsoft have a Office suite that works on all platform (WIn, Ios, Osx, Linux) Google don't.
It's amazing how a year change in the software market. Yesterday google was the leader, now they aren't there.
Ceci n'est pas une Signature !
Not correct. From the only authoritative source -- Microsoft themselves:
"Sign in with a free Microsoft account to create, edit and save documents for home use. A qualifying Office 365 subscription is required to create, edit and save documents for business use."
And... "1. INSTALLATION AND USE RIGHTS.
a. Consumer Use. You may install and use one copy of the software on Android Phone devices you own or control in order to view existing documents. As allowed by the software, you may also create, edit or save documents for non-commercial use purposes.
b. Commercial Use. You may install and use one copy of the software on Android Phone devices you own or control in order to view existing documents. As allowed by the software, you may also create, edit or save documents for commercial use purposes IF you are a commercial Microsoft Office 365 subscriber with mobile device rights subject to the following terms:
Refer to your existing license terms for Microsoft Office 365 with mobile device rights (the “service”) to identify the entity licensing the software to you and for support information. The terms and conditions for the service apply to your use of the software. However, the software’s privacy statement applies to your use of the software in addition to the privacy statement for the service. You may find the privacy statement within the software, and as applicable, on the app store from which you obtained the software. You may use and install copies of the software on Android Phone devices you own or control subject to the service terms and conditions so long as you have a valid subscription license to the service that includes mobile device rights. If there is a conflict between the service terms and conditions and the above, the terms in this Section 1.b apply."
And finally... "Premium features on your Android tablet and phone with Office 365
Core editing is available for free on Android devices with screen sizes of 10.1 inches or less. The extra features below are available on Android tablets and phones with a qualifying Office 365 subscription. For information about the extra security and control features that are available for customers with an Office 365 for business plan, visit the mobile apps for business page.
Word
Track and review changes
Change page orientation
Insert page and section breaks
Highlight table cells with custom color shading
Enable columns in page layout
Customize headers and footers for different pages
PowerPoint
Save ink annotations from slide shows
Highlight table cells with custom color shading
A qualifying Office 365 subscription is required to use the premium features"
That's not free, it's payware with a non-commercial use, feature-crippled, time-unlimited trial that has basic features removed which even home users would want such as page orientation, breaks, table colors and headers / footers.
Not correct.
You might need to learn the difference between "Not correct" and "Pretty much exactly what you said, but I don't like it so I'm going to make a big deal where such is not warranted".
All my liberal friends think I'm a conservative, all my conservative friends think I'm a liberal.
I was creating Word and Excel documents, for free as they were included in the OS, more than a decade ago on my trusty iPaq 6315.
Why is this news?
Karma: Can only be portioned out by the Cosmos.
It's bad enough that MS is harassing every phone/tablet manufacturer to pay some sort of "Android tax", because of "reasons". I'd like to see a single manufacturer stand up to this kind of crap, but so far that's not happening. I don't want MS anywhere near my phone.
Buck Feta. You know what to do.
Grandparent represented it as fully-featured other than obscure features like version tracking: That's not true. Microsoft are representing it as free, but for business use (which is the primary use for something like this), that's not true either.
Sorry you don't like my post, but that doesn't make it any less correct.
With all the money that Microsoft charges for patents used by Android, I'd hardly call it free.
Microsoft is just trying to get everybody locked in to their proprietary format.
TNSTAAFL
To quote muirhead:
Most features are there, and I could open and edit a new blank doc.
You are the one who has created the straw man, stretching "most features are there" into "fully-features other than obscure features like version tracking".
You also seem to be assuming that muirhead was talking about the commercial version. He never stated that or indicated it in any way. The average user, by far, would be subject to the consumer edition and not the commercial one, so this is also quite a stretch you made.
It's not about whether I like your post, or whether you provided useful information. It's about you mixing FUD into your response.
All my liberal friends think I'm a conservative, all my conservative friends think I'm a liberal.
a) He implied most features are there. They're not. Exceptionally basic, entry-level features like the ability to rotate the page (!!) are missing unless you pay.
b) If you were talking about the PC, I'd agree the average user would be non-commercial. However, we're not talking about the PC, we're talking about a phone version. You know who uses Office on their phone? Business folk who are trying to travel light. You know who doesn't typically use Office on their phone, and who if by some rare chance does use it on their phone, most likely uses it solely as a reader? Consumers.
Therefore you are fundamentally incorrect, and Microsoft is being extremely misleading by representing it as free.
So you mean 13MB? That's still pretty big.
No, they (MS) are not. And no, the poster (GP) implied no such thing. They are very quotable, if you would care to show us what you think implied any of that then please do demonstrate it to the class (with the applicable quotes). Also, show the stats that demonstrate which type of users are using the mobile version as I suspect you are making that up as well. In other words, I can find no evidence to support anything you said - not one thing. That is pretty bad, you should couch your FUD with some reality so that the rest can be seemingly true. I suppose now is the time to accuse you of being a paid shill. However, I do not believe they are as prevalent as some folks seem to think. Thus, I believe you are just delusional and/or willfully ignorant.
"So long and thanks for all the fish."
See subject.
(Pretty simple, really.)
"So long and thanks for all the fish."