Slog
News & ArtsTuesday, February 21, 2012
Tech What Do You Think of Microsoft Office for the iPad?
Posted by Paul Constant on Tue, Feb 21, 2012 at 4:20 PM
So Matt Hickey at The Daily has been reporting for a while that Microsoft is making a version of their Office software for the iPad. He even ran pictures of an iPad running the software earlier today. But then The New York Times reported that Microsoft called those photos phony:
A Microsoft spokeswoman issued this statement: “The Daily story is based on inaccurate rumors and speculation. We have no further comment.” She added that a screen image included with The Daily’s article showing an Office product for iPad was “not Microsoft’s software,” she said.
And now The Daily has announced that they're sticking by the story:
We’ve been chasing this story down for weeks. We did not fabricate the image and Microsoft isn’t denying the existence of Office for iPad. All this fuss over a photo is nonsense. The story is real.
Things are getting very awkward now, with TechCrunch confirming that the software exists, and with Microsoft vacillating on it throughout the day. And so now we must turn to the final arbiter of truth: A legally binding Slog poll.
2
Definitely real. It's Matt Formerly Fuckin Hickey. And yes, Office may be silly and iPads frivolous, but nothing is wronger than hardware and software made to not work with each other. That makes it harder for different people to work together and understand each other, and that's the stupidest thing ever.
3
It does exist, and Apple lost a sale this weekend to an MBA grad friend of mine who wanted to buy an iPad2 with Office, due to Microsoft pretending that it doesn't exist.
Some of the plug ins don't work on the Apple OS version for laptops, by the way, so people have to dual boot and use different copies of OS to access docs - you store them on a stick in that case.
Seriously, nobody cares what your marketroids think, just release the code.
Some of the plug ins don't work on the Apple OS version for laptops, by the way, so people have to dual boot and use different copies of OS to access docs - you store them on a stick in that case.
Seriously, nobody cares what your marketroids think, just release the code.
4
there's an app called Office HD that does this fine, so well that I always thought it was from Microsoft.
5
@3, help me, Jesus, here he comes again.
Explain to me why someone would try to run Office for iPads, if such a thing existed, on a laptop, instead of Office for Macintosh, which has existed for more than twenty years? And while you're at it explain why or how someone would be dual-booting Mac OSX and iPad's iOS on the same machine?
On second thought, don't. Because you can't. Because you haven't got a ghost of a glimmer of a clue what you're taking about. Explain instead why every time you unfurl your keyboard you reach a new low in understanding things? And why you seem determined to make yourself look like total shit for brains? Unless, perhaps, shit for brains is a step UP from your actual condition?
Seriously. See a doctor.
Explain to me why someone would try to run Office for iPads, if such a thing existed, on a laptop, instead of Office for Macintosh, which has existed for more than twenty years? And while you're at it explain why or how someone would be dual-booting Mac OSX and iPad's iOS on the same machine?
On second thought, don't. Because you can't. Because you haven't got a ghost of a glimmer of a clue what you're taking about. Explain instead why every time you unfurl your keyboard you reach a new low in understanding things? And why you seem determined to make yourself look like total shit for brains? Unless, perhaps, shit for brains is a step UP from your actual condition?
Seriously. See a doctor.
6
God no. Office seems to get worse and more bloated with each new version. It peaked somewhere around version 5 more than a decade ago.
No thank you.
No thank you.
7
I think this will count as the first and only time I ever say this, but Fnarf? I think you misread Will's comment, by assuming that there was some sort of narrative connection between the first and second paragraphs. The second one is just the usual WiS free-association: "oh, and speaking of microsoft office", and is referring to the OSX version of office and might even be true on its own merits.
(That said, I'm not sure which "plug-ins" he's referring to: my guess is that this is WiS-speak for the fact that the second-most-recent version of Office/OSX lacked Visual BASIC for Applications support and thus couldn't fully use Word/Excel docs with VBA macros in them.)
(That said, I'm not sure which "plug-ins" he's referring to: my guess is that this is WiS-speak for the fact that the second-most-recent version of Office/OSX lacked Visual BASIC for Applications support and thus couldn't fully use Word/Excel docs with VBA macros in them.)
8
@7, he said "some of the plug-ins". Leaving aside the fact that "plug-ins" is the wrong word, without any other information to go on, one has to assume he's still talking about the iPad, right? He didn't say anything about Office for Mac. And, as you point out, Office for Mac has had VBA support restored in it for three years now.
And if your supposition is correct, then what's that about dual-booting? How does dual-booting restore VBA access to Office 2008? That doesn't make any sense. You could dual boot into Windows, I suppose, but that's not what he said.
His three paragraphs fail utterly both individually and as a whole. Seriously, he's malfunctioning.
And if your supposition is correct, then what's that about dual-booting? How does dual-booting restore VBA access to Office 2008? That doesn't make any sense. You could dual boot into Windows, I suppose, but that's not what he said.
His three paragraphs fail utterly both individually and as a whole. Seriously, he's malfunctioning.
10
@5 because the processor for an iPad2 or iPad3 is more powerful than that used for a WinXP Office computer when it was released.
God, you're really stupid, did you know that?
By the way, NASA unplugged it's last mainframe.
God, you're really stupid, did you know that?
By the way, NASA unplugged it's last mainframe.
11
@8 I said both. It's a suite, suites are released for a range of devices in an OS. You really need to get a clue stick and DDR it in.
12
This kind of conversation always makes me think of walking in on a room full of graduate math TA's having a circle jerk.
13
I picked the last option because I like the idea of making nasty comments about Microsoft products from my work computer at an MS building. I mean, what are they going to do? Send jackbooted MS thugs to come haul me away mid comment for saying something b
14
It can't be any worse than Apple's Office-like offering for iPad. Numbers, Apple's Excel, is great on the desktop but blows on the iPad.
16
I'm trying to be completely done with MS Office. I have just enough geek blood that I'm getting by with OpenOffice (now, LibreOffice). As java-based open source, it could run on anything that can run java, at least theoretically, and a quick Google check shows a couple of websites saying it's been ported to iPad already. oh, and LibreOffice has my favorite user feature of any software -- it's free!
17
Fnarf: dual-booting restored VBA access presumably because the other OS you were booting into would have been Windows.
...and then WiS attempts to use "DDR" as a verb, proving that he doesn't understand the difference between what DDR means in DRAM context and, one presumes, Dance Dance Revolution, so the expected normal WiS bullshit level is restored.
...and then WiS attempts to use "DDR" as a verb, proving that he doesn't understand the difference between what DDR means in DRAM context and, one presumes, Dance Dance Revolution, so the expected normal WiS bullshit level is restored.
18
It's an easy assumption that skeleton versions of Office exist for pretty much any alternative OS ever. And it might even be enough to make screenshots - probably just static mockups - that can be dumped into PowerPoint presentations for executives. None of this means it has any functionality for end users, it just demonstrates that a few devs on a crash project can make demo code which sometimes gets leaked.
Too bad this explanation wasn't in the poll.
Too bad this explanation wasn't in the poll.
19
I remember when they used to make Microsoft Office for the Close 'n Play.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AAKZ-O70w…
20
@11,
Both what? You can't even write a sentence.
And, in addition to DDR, you don't know what "suite" means. Suites are not in fact "released for a range of devices in an OS". That doesn't even make any sense. Office is a "suite" because it encompasses a range of related programs: Word, Excel, Outlook, etc. But Office doesn't know or care what device you have, only the OS. Office 2010 runs under both XP and 7, for instance -- ANY computer. And Office 2007, Office 2008, Office 2010, and Office 2011 are different suites. Christ, why am I explaining this to a block of wood?
If you are suggesting that Office 2011 for the Mac, which is already released, is the same product as this putative Office for iPad, you are wrong.
Of course, we already knew you were wrong, just not HOW wrong. Every day that ocean of wrongness turns out to be larger than previously believed.
You also seem to believe that OSX and iOS are the same thing. Also wrong. And not just "no, you misunderstand" wrong, but "you know absolutely nothing about Macs, iPads, or computers in general" wrong. You never even get the jargon right.
Every Mac user and every Windows user reading this forum is laughing at you, Will.
@8 I said both. It's a suite, suites are released for a range of devices in an OS. You really need to get a clue stick and DDR it in.
Both what? You can't even write a sentence.
And, in addition to DDR, you don't know what "suite" means. Suites are not in fact "released for a range of devices in an OS". That doesn't even make any sense. Office is a "suite" because it encompasses a range of related programs: Word, Excel, Outlook, etc. But Office doesn't know or care what device you have, only the OS. Office 2010 runs under both XP and 7, for instance -- ANY computer. And Office 2007, Office 2008, Office 2010, and Office 2011 are different suites. Christ, why am I explaining this to a block of wood?
If you are suggesting that Office 2011 for the Mac, which is already released, is the same product as this putative Office for iPad, you are wrong.
Of course, we already knew you were wrong, just not HOW wrong. Every day that ocean of wrongness turns out to be larger than previously believed.
You also seem to believe that OSX and iOS are the same thing. Also wrong. And not just "no, you misunderstand" wrong, but "you know absolutely nothing about Macs, iPads, or computers in general" wrong. You never even get the jargon right.
Every Mac user and every Windows user reading this forum is laughing at you, Will.
22
@20: Fnarf, you just gotta DDR that in, man. Like these guys did. They're clearly making use of their clue sticks.
23
Open office has proven time and time again to be light years better than Micy Office. Anyone still using microsoft office is either a stupid pirate or a wasteful newb. The thing crashes all the time on windows, I wouldn't support this program until I saw it in action, and I'd still tell you to switch over to the open source one, though can you install your own programs on an ipad? Whatever, good luck with your paperweight.
24
@23 Here's an old news story which talks about the porting projects of Open/Libre Office: http://www.zdnet.com/news/libreoffice-ex…
And a story about how Microsoft is trying to develop a version of their OS that will prevent using anyone else's desktop apps: http://www.pcpro.co.uk/news/372721/windo…
And a story about how Microsoft is trying to develop a version of their OS that will prevent using anyone else's desktop apps: http://www.pcpro.co.uk/news/372721/windo…
25
Why would I want to run Microsoft products on an Apple device? Would I ever contemplate the reverse? Of course not. Anyway, the entire information technology industry sucks in a way that is hard to express in words. Apple is the least sucky so I will stick with them as well as with open source (as mentioned above).
26
@23, I hate MS Office with a white-hot passion sometimes, but, after having installed it maybe three thousand times in my life, on computers ranging from Windows 3.1 to 7 Pro, I can't think of a case off the top of my head where it crashed "all the time", or even once.
@25, there wouldn't BE an Apple if it wasn't for Office. Office (or its components) has been one of the top-selling applications for the Mac since the very beginning; Word for Mac came out in 1984, and Microsoft's Mac strategy saved Apple from bankruptcy at least twice. It may not float your boat, and there may be free options now, but millions of people have answered your question with "yes".
@25, there wouldn't BE an Apple if it wasn't for Office. Office (or its components) has been one of the top-selling applications for the Mac since the very beginning; Word for Mac came out in 1984, and Microsoft's Mac strategy saved Apple from bankruptcy at least twice. It may not float your boat, and there may be free options now, but millions of people have answered your question with "yes".
29
The last time I tried Open Office (2006? 2007?) for Mac, it was slow and awkward and freaked out when I tried to open documents in Chinese or Japanese. So I switched to Office for Mac, which was better than the Windows version I was used to. A lot of free software I've tried has had trouble with Asian text. So there are reasons to go with the big expensive software, especially if you get a student discount.
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