I like your ideas, but maybe you've noticed: We're all still using QWERTY keyboards. Even the iPad has a QWERTY keyboard! This keyboard arrangement was designed to slow typists down so the keys of physical typewriters wouldn't jam. This hasn't been necessary for at least 50 years. The keyboard we all know and love isn't going anywhere. Even with haptic feedback, and the other advances that you mentioned, you still need to know the keyboard so you can type without looking.
No one gives a rat's ass about iWork at all, despite M$ not introducing iOS versions of Word and Excel.
You really need to get out more!
Their are 5 people in our houseold from 11 to 72.
We haven't used Office for over 4 years, now.
Everything from church bulletins; PTA secretary, minutes, agenda, etc.; homeork essays, reporrts; general correspondence; schedules and bracket picks for sports, NCAA, NBA, NFL...
iWork is more than adequate for our Mac and iPad needs...
As opposed to the bloat, confusion, unfriendliness of Office.
I like your ideas, but maybe you've noticed: We're all still using QWERTY keyboards. Even the iPad has a QWERTY keyboard! This keyboard arrangement was designed to slow typists down so the keys of physical typewriters wouldn't jam. This hasn't been necessary for at least 50 years. The keyboard we all know and love isn't going anywhere. Even with haptic feedback, and the other advances that you mentioned, you still need to know the keyboard so you can type without looking.
Have you ever seen BB users thumb type on their phones...
Contests using trained people sending/receiving Morse code outperform conventional typing.
StenoTypists routinely get above 300 wpm.
The fact that the QWERTY kb is doninant -- means little if someting better comes along.
I can rember way back before touch smart phones... Even further back before cell phones...
Remember, when most telephone handsets had dials -- then they were almost immediately replaced by handsets with pushbuttons.
My point: Don't get too comfortable with your vintage kb.
Have you ever seen BB users thumb type on their phones...
Contests using trained people sending/receiving Morse code outperform conventional typing.
StenoTypists routinely get above 300 wpm.
The fact that the QWERTY kb is doninant -- means little if someting better comes along.
I can rember way back before touch smart phones... Even further back before cell phones...
Remember, when most telephone handsets had dials -- then they were almost immediately replaced by handsets with pushbuttons.
My point: Don't get too comfortable with your vintage kb.
Trivia, trivia... What is the fastest touch typist on an iPad (no keyboard)? There has to be a contest for this somewhere. And it has to be unseen text. Not pre-known text that has been practiced ad-nauseum.
For the overwhelming majority of users, Office is Windows, and - whether or not anyone outside the industry stops to think about it - Office is mostly Excel. If Apple every chooses to produce a grown-up, marriageable release of iWork rather than the appealing flirtations we've experienced so far, the result should be about as fascinating as geekwars every get.
Pages is already mostly there ? I abandoned the grotesquely bloated waddling mess which is Word years ago, forgot about it in a matter of days, and have never looked back.
Presentation apps don't really matter to anyone, provided something exists and is usable. We're all so benumbed by the nonstop media barrage provided by advertising that setting the screen on fire won't get our attention. PowerPoint vs Keynote? Who cares? The only notable thing either has ever accomplished is to render ubiquitous the ability to sleep with eyes open.
When it comes to productivity applications, serious-but-accessible data analysis is now the potential killer app. Anyone who can blow a hole in Excel will also blow a hole in Microsoft. It might be possible to copyright a paradigm shift in the way we conceived spreadsheets - in which case Microsoft might be unable to use their customary strategy of producing a belated clone - and if such a product comes from Apple, MS's habit of simply buying the competition won't be an option.
It'd be great to again see real innovation in core productivity applications. Once Microsoft suffocated the entire industry by the simple expedient of sitting on it like a 700 lb woman and a yapping chihuahua, the manipulation of numbers and words has been as dull as their presentation.
Much like the manipulation of digital images has become in recent years.
Have you ever seen BB users thumb type on their phones...
Yes, but I doubt they can actually type 60 wpm. Impressive for two fingered typing though.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dick Applebaum
Contests using trained people sending/receiving Morse code outperform conventional typing.
StenoTypists routinely get above 300 wpm.
The fact that the QWERTY kb is doninant -- means little if someting better comes along.
Actually, you just proved my point. Better keyboard layouts (like Dvorak) have been around for decades. QWERTY is inferior to almost any other keyboard layout you can imagine (it was designed to slow you down), yet it has persisted through massive technological shifts, and will continue to persist.
Windows users are old fashioned, unlike cutting edge Mac users. Microsoft is investing heavily in multitouch, and hardly any windows user even knows what that is or has even used it before. State of the art for them is a mouse and a beige keyboard, while Mac users have been using state of the art multitouch devices for many years in Apple laptops and now on desktops with the Magic Trackpad and of course on iOS devices with their touch screens.
Windows 8 on a desktop with those huge tiles looks like it was designed for either senior citizens who have really bad vision problems or for toddlers, take your pick.
I guess Apple had to give something to their users to play with, platform lacking games and number of apps available on Windows...
However, it does leave out some of the downside in terms of Apple's plans and achievements in the area of Office productivity apps.
For instance there is no mention of the fact that the iPad apps are still feature incomplete relative to the desktop versions of iWork, that the feature set of both versions is rather minimal at best, and that Apple has a long history of botching Office productivity apps by basically letting them languish after the initial version.
Pages for instance has hardly changed or evolved at all from the very first desktop version and while it's simpler and better designed than MS Word, it's neither as powerful nor as flexible. The mobile version is not even as good as that. There is still no pagination, no hyphenation and no stylesheet control (even though the entire program is based on stylesheets), in the mobile app and moving a document from the desktop to a mobile device, currently changes the format of the file in ridiculous ways.
I use iWork exclusively and as a writer I use Pages for everything I create both on the desktop and the iPad. I use Pages day in and day out on the iPad and on multiple computers and I'm well aware of what it can (and cannot) do. As far as I can see, Apple has shown little sign that they really care that much about those of us that have switched to their productivity apps. The iWork mobile apps feels very much like "placeholder" apps to me. IMO Apple really needs to step up their game here or they will be steamrollered.
I'm really rooting for Apple to pull it off this time, but it bears saying that even though Apple is currently far ahead of Microsoft on the mobile word processing front, there is still ample time for them to f*ck it up as they have before.
If Microsoft wasn't so colossally stupid, they would already have made iOS versions of Word and Excel, and already no one would rat's behind about iWork at all. The fact that Microsft has that idiot Balmer in charge and has reacted so slowly to the threat has given Apple a golden opportunity, that so far, they have squandered IMO.
Given the sheer volume of people using iOS devices, if they actually had a workable Office competitor on iOS that integrated with a workable competitor to office on the desktop, they might even be able to destroy the Office monopoly because their approach and their basic design is superior and the pressure of so many people using an alternative might get it to catch on. I worry however that they will simply display the hubris they have shown so many times and fail completely at this.
MS was talking about possibility to do Office for iOS some time ago, but I think they opted not to. Office for iOS would make iOS devices much more corporate-friendly, and I'm lucky-guessing that is something MS wants to keep for Win 8 gadgets as exclusively as possible.
So I just read a three page article and another three pages of comments and I'm left scratching my head.
It seems like the point of this article is that Microsoft haven't officially announced "Office 2013" yet. Is that right?
It's like Dilger has made a fool of himself by messing up every story he could about the announced details of Windows 8 so now he has resorted to making a fool of himself based on things that haven't been announced.
You would think Dilger would have spent today writing about Google Wallet. That seems like a far bigger non-Apple story than unannounced Microsoft products.
However, it does leave out some of the downside in terms of Apple's plans and achievements in the area of Office productivity apps.
For instance there is no mention of the fact that the iPad apps are still feature incomplete relative to the desktop versions of iWork, that the feature set of both versions is rather minimal at best, and that Apple has a long history of botching Office productivity apps by basically letting them languish after the initial version.
Pages for instance has hardly changed or evolved at all from the very first desktop version and while it's simpler and better designed than MS Word, it's neither as powerful nor as flexible. The mobile version is not even as good as that. There is still no pagination, no hyphenation and no stylesheet control (even though the entire program is based on stylesheets), in the mobile app and moving a document from the desktop to a mobile device, currently changes the format of the file in ridiculous ways.
I use iWork exclusively and as a writer I use Pages for everything I create both on the desktop and the iPad. I use Pages day in and day out on the iPad and on multiple computers and I'm well aware of what it can (and cannot) do. As far as I can see, Apple has shown little sign that they really care that much about those of us that have switched to their productivity apps. The iWork mobile apps feels very much like "placeholder" apps to me. IMO Apple really needs to step up their game here or they will be steamrollered.
I'm really rooting for Apple to pull it off this time, but it bears saying that even though Apple is currently far ahead of Microsoft on the mobile word processing front, there is still ample time for them to f*ck it up as they have before.
If Microsoft wasn't so colossally stupid, they would already have made iOS versions of Word and Excel, and already no one would rat's behind about iWork at all. The fact that Microsft has that idiot Balmer in charge and has reacted so slowly to the threat has given Apple a golden opportunity, that so far, they have squandered IMO.
Given the sheer volume of people using iOS devices, if they actually had a workable Office competitor on iOS that integrated with a workable competitor to office on the desktop, they might even be able to destroy the Office monopoly because their approach and their basic design is superior and the pressure of so many people using an alternative might get it to catch on. I worry however that they will simply display the hubris they have shown so many times and fail completely at this.
That sums up my opinion. They really need to be adding the features that people expect to have in their productivity apps. Apple really needs to try to get people using their productivity apps to lure them to the iOS group. Many people want to actually be able to do work with their iOS devices and not just dick around on the internet.
I must have some kind of subconscious masochist tendencies because I decided to check Dilger's sources again.
As it tuns out it looks like he miss-attributed a quote to Ballmer, made assumptions based on this mistake, then wrote an entire article about it.
This is the point where any blog with integrity would admit their error and update the article with the new information. We'll see what happens here on AI...
The world according the Dilger...
Speaking with financial analysts, Microsoft's chief executive Steve Ballmer answered questions about a Metro Office release by saying, "you ought to expect that we are rethinking and working hard on what it would mean to do Office Metro style."
Ballmer then revealed that Microsoft was still in the early stages of exploring the concept by saying, "the question is Metro interface for Office. How critical is it to Windows 8 adoption to have software that takes full advantage of Office with Metro??
The real world...
QUESTION: Thank you. On Office, I know there?s a development effort for Office for ARM. The question is Metro interface for Office. How critical is it to Windows 8 adoption to have software that takes full advantage of Office with Metro? It?s now only been about 15 months since the last release of Office. If we?re, say, a year away, still kind of on the cusp, I?m not sure if you had to choose to add functionality to Office, or you say let?s just do a Metro infrastructure. If you can kind of share with us your thoughts, particularly as it pertains to the adoption rate of Windows 8.
STEVE BALLMER: Yeah. No, we?re certainly ? as I said in my remarks this morning, supporting our platforms and having our platform support innovation in our applications broadly remains super important to us.
The brilliance of the Windows 8 strategy, though, is we get all of the applications that come from Windows on X86, as well as applications that have gone through the process of rethinking how they might work in a Windows 8 world. When we have something that we want to talk about, we will, but certainly you ought to expect that we are rethinking and working hard on what it would mean to do Office Metro style.
I must have some kind of subconscious masochist tendencies because I decided to check Dilger's sources again.
As it tuns out it looks like he miss-attributed a quote to Ballmer, made assumptions based on this mistake, then wrote an entire article about it.
This is the point where any blog with integrity would admit their error and update the article with the new information. We'll see what happens here on AI...
The world according the Dilger...
Speaking with financial analysts, Microsoft's chief executive Steve Ballmer answered questions about a Metro Office release by saying, "you ought to expect that we are rethinking and working hard on what it would mean to do Office Metro style."
Ballmer then revealed that Microsoft was still in the early stages of exploring the concept by saying, "the question is Metro interface for Office. How critical is it to Windows 8 adoption to have software that takes full advantage of Office with Metro??
The real world...
QUESTION: Thank you. On Office, I know there?s a development effort for Office for ARM. The question is Metro interface for Office. How critical is it to Windows 8 adoption to have software that takes full advantage of Office with Metro? It?s now only been about 15 months since the last release of Office. If we?re, say, a year away, still kind of on the cusp, I?m not sure if you had to choose to add functionality to Office, or you say let?s just do a Metro infrastructure. If you can kind of share with us your thoughts, particularly as it pertains to the adoption rate of Windows 8.
STEVE BALLMER: Yeah. No, we?re certainly ? as I said in my remarks this morning, supporting our platforms and having our platform support innovation in our applications broadly remains super important to us.
The brilliance of the Windows 8 strategy, though, is we get all of the applications that come from Windows on X86, as well as applications that have gone through the process of rethinking how they might work in a Windows 8 world. When we have something that we want to talk about, we will, but certainly you ought to expect that we are rethinking and working hard on what it would mean to do Office Metro style.
DED must have rolling fits of laughter as he spins his web of misinformation. I think he thinks he is a bit like Steve by having his own reality distortion field. I certainly continue to be amazed at how many people take what he says at face value.
Microsoft have just released the preview, the beta will be out at CES, and it will probably hit the shelves in October 2012. Lots can change by then. This little article is hardly likely to pressure Microsoft into spilling the beans.
It is OK for Apple to keep everything a secret until they release new features. But Microsoft is required to spell everything out to DED a year in advance?
Dude, grab some popcorn, don't get wrapped up around the axel... and watch the show.
Uh, no, it's quite simply that MS equivocates all the time, may introduce something to be released a year later, but end up dropping it.
There's a big difference between Jobs or Cook saying, "We're not going to talk about that", and an MS Exec saying "I'm not sure..." (which is what they seem to be quoted as saying in related articles about their plans for Metro and Office).
Additionally, MS is in the position of needing its enterprise clients. Apparently large Enterprise purchases take planning and time to roll out and budgeting. Hey, MS makes their bed, they have to lie in it. It's not this writer who is saying MS has to spell out their plans when they hint at this or that -- it's MS' clients. Enterprise clients don't want to be surprised by another Vista fiasco. Evenso, these clients don't seem that wowed by Metro. But apparently businesses only upgrade every other major release: they skipped Vista, and are just now starting to migrate from XP to 7. So, MS has three years to get it's act together and figure out which way the wind is blowing today, lol.
Apple doesn't especially go after big business clients; but what do you know, businesses are lapping up the iPad (which connects to MS Exchange, and databases and backend services better than MS products), and they are finding new uses for it in a corporate setting.
Quite rightly, DED is pointing out the gap that MS is leaving open by not having some simplified versions of Office available for different platforms -- all the while Metro may or may not come about as envisioned in a year's time, and may or may not ship with useful business apps, and MS may or may not think about making Metro versions of Office. Who knows? ...who cares?
Yes, Apple is very secretive and says very little -- but by golly they sure seem more predictable and reliable than MS: Apple make regular OS and iOS updates, they make keynote addresses in which they reveal some of their future plans, and if they say they are working to get documents seamlessly sync'ed across all your devices, then they are and it is going to happen.
Comments
And, that's a good thing!
I like your ideas, but maybe you've noticed: We're all still using QWERTY keyboards. Even the iPad has a QWERTY keyboard!
Listen:
Do you want to know a secret?
Do you promise not to tell?
Move closer. Let me whisper in your ear:
No one gives a rat's ass about iWork at all, despite M$ not introducing iOS versions of Word and Excel.
You really need to get out more!
Their are 5 people in our houseold from 11 to 72.
We haven't used Office for over 4 years, now.
Everything from church bulletins; PTA secretary, minutes, agenda, etc.; homeork essays, reporrts; general correspondence; schedules and bracket picks for sports, NCAA, NBA, NFL...
iWork is more than adequate for our Mac and iPad needs...
As opposed to the bloat, confusion, unfriendliness of Office.
Speaking of insecure: http://www.bgr.com/2011/09/19/os-x-l...your-password/
Of course, there is always this caveat:
'As CNET points out, a hacker could only take advantage of the known bug if he or she has local access to the computer and Directory Service access.'
Mmmm... better to be aware of ones security environment and take appropriate measures.
Of course, there is always this caveat:
'As CNET points out, a hacker could only take advantage of the known bug if he or she has local access to the computer and Directory Service access.'
Mmmm... better to be aware of ones security environment and take appropriate measures.
The other caveat is that Windows is as secure as OS X. So let's move on to something worth arguing about.
I like your ideas, but maybe you've noticed: We're all still using QWERTY keyboards. Even the iPad has a QWERTY keyboard!
Have you ever seen BB users thumb type on their phones...
Contests using trained people sending/receiving Morse code outperform conventional typing.
StenoTypists routinely get above 300 wpm.
The fact that the QWERTY kb is doninant -- means little if someting better comes along.
I can rember way back before touch smart phones... Even further back before cell phones...
Remember, when most telephone handsets had dials -- then they were almost immediately replaced by handsets with pushbuttons.
My point: Don't get too comfortable with your vintage kb.
Have you ever seen BB users thumb type on their phones...
Contests using trained people sending/receiving Morse code outperform conventional typing.
StenoTypists routinely get above 300 wpm.
The fact that the QWERTY kb is doninant -- means little if someting better comes along.
I can rember way back before touch smart phones... Even further back before cell phones...
Remember, when most telephone handsets had dials -- then they were almost immediately replaced by handsets with pushbuttons.
My point: Don't get too comfortable with your vintage kb.
Trivia, trivia... What is the fastest touch typist on an iPad (no keyboard)? There has to be a contest for this somewhere. And it has to be unseen text. Not pre-known text that has been practiced ad-nauseum.
Trivia, trivia... What is the fastest touch typist on an iPad (no keyboard)? There has to be a contest for this somewhere.
Doesn't really matter, now does it...
Like a camera, the best kb is the one you have with you!
I have a MacBook that gathers dust -- the iPad goes everywhere I go.
Doesn't really matter, now does it...
Like a camera, the best kb is the one you have with you!
I have a MacBook that gathers dust -- the iPad goes everywhere I go.
It doesn't matter... but inquiring minds want to know.
Pages is already mostly there ? I abandoned the grotesquely bloated waddling mess which is Word years ago, forgot about it in a matter of days, and have never looked back.
Presentation apps don't really matter to anyone, provided something exists and is usable. We're all so benumbed by the nonstop media barrage provided by advertising that setting the screen on fire won't get our attention. PowerPoint vs Keynote? Who cares? The only notable thing either has ever accomplished is to render ubiquitous the ability to sleep with eyes open.
When it comes to productivity applications, serious-but-accessible data analysis is now the potential killer app. Anyone who can blow a hole in Excel will also blow a hole in Microsoft. It might be possible to copyright a paradigm shift in the way we conceived spreadsheets - in which case Microsoft might be unable to use their customary strategy of producing a belated clone - and if such a product comes from Apple, MS's habit of simply buying the competition won't be an option.
It'd be great to again see real innovation in core productivity applications. Once Microsoft suffocated the entire industry by the simple expedient of sitting on it like a 700 lb woman and a yapping chihuahua, the manipulation of numbers and words has been as dull as their presentation.
Much like the manipulation of digital images has become in recent years.
Have you ever seen BB users thumb type on their phones...
Yes, but I doubt they can actually type 60 wpm. Impressive for two fingered typing though.
Contests using trained people sending/receiving Morse code outperform conventional typing.
StenoTypists routinely get above 300 wpm.
The fact that the QWERTY kb is doninant -- means little if someting better comes along.
Actually, you just proved my point. Better keyboard layouts (like Dvorak) have been around for decades. QWERTY is inferior to almost any other keyboard layout you can imagine (it was designed to slow you down), yet it has persisted through massive technological shifts, and will continue to persist.
Windows users are old fashioned, unlike cutting edge Mac users. Microsoft is investing heavily in multitouch, and hardly any windows user even knows what that is or has even used it before. State of the art for them is a mouse and a beige keyboard, while Mac users have been using state of the art multitouch devices for many years in Apple laptops and now on desktops with the Magic Trackpad and of course on iOS devices with their touch screens.
Windows 8 on a desktop with those huge tiles looks like it was designed for either senior citizens who have really bad vision problems or for toddlers, take your pick.
I guess Apple had to give something to their users to play with, platform lacking games and number of apps available on Windows...
Good analysis.
However, it does leave out some of the downside in terms of Apple's plans and achievements in the area of Office productivity apps.
For instance there is no mention of the fact that the iPad apps are still feature incomplete relative to the desktop versions of iWork, that the feature set of both versions is rather minimal at best, and that Apple has a long history of botching Office productivity apps by basically letting them languish after the initial version.
Pages for instance has hardly changed or evolved at all from the very first desktop version and while it's simpler and better designed than MS Word, it's neither as powerful nor as flexible. The mobile version is not even as good as that. There is still no pagination, no hyphenation and no stylesheet control (even though the entire program is based on stylesheets), in the mobile app and moving a document from the desktop to a mobile device, currently changes the format of the file in ridiculous ways.
I use iWork exclusively and as a writer I use Pages for everything I create both on the desktop and the iPad. I use Pages day in and day out on the iPad and on multiple computers and I'm well aware of what it can (and cannot) do. As far as I can see, Apple has shown little sign that they really care that much about those of us that have switched to their productivity apps. The iWork mobile apps feels very much like "placeholder" apps to me. IMO Apple really needs to step up their game here or they will be steamrollered.
I'm really rooting for Apple to pull it off this time, but it bears saying that even though Apple is currently far ahead of Microsoft on the mobile word processing front, there is still ample time for them to f*ck it up as they have before.
If Microsoft wasn't so colossally stupid, they would already have made iOS versions of Word and Excel, and already no one would rat's behind about iWork at all. The fact that Microsft has that idiot Balmer in charge and has reacted so slowly to the threat has given Apple a golden opportunity, that so far, they have squandered IMO.
Given the sheer volume of people using iOS devices, if they actually had a workable Office competitor on iOS that integrated with a workable competitor to office on the desktop, they might even be able to destroy the Office monopoly because their approach and their basic design is superior and the pressure of so many people using an alternative might get it to catch on. I worry however that they will simply display the hubris they have shown so many times and fail completely at this.
MS was talking about possibility to do Office for iOS some time ago, but I think they opted not to. Office for iOS would make iOS devices much more corporate-friendly, and I'm lucky-guessing that is something MS wants to keep for Win 8 gadgets as exclusively as possible.
Just my 2 cents...
It seems like the point of this article is that Microsoft haven't officially announced "Office 2013" yet. Is that right?
It's like Dilger has made a fool of himself by messing up every story he could about the announced details of Windows 8 so now he has resorted to making a fool of himself based on things that haven't been announced.
You would think Dilger would have spent today writing about Google Wallet. That seems like a far bigger non-Apple story than unannounced Microsoft products.
Good analysis.
However, it does leave out some of the downside in terms of Apple's plans and achievements in the area of Office productivity apps.
For instance there is no mention of the fact that the iPad apps are still feature incomplete relative to the desktop versions of iWork, that the feature set of both versions is rather minimal at best, and that Apple has a long history of botching Office productivity apps by basically letting them languish after the initial version.
Pages for instance has hardly changed or evolved at all from the very first desktop version and while it's simpler and better designed than MS Word, it's neither as powerful nor as flexible. The mobile version is not even as good as that. There is still no pagination, no hyphenation and no stylesheet control (even though the entire program is based on stylesheets), in the mobile app and moving a document from the desktop to a mobile device, currently changes the format of the file in ridiculous ways.
I use iWork exclusively and as a writer I use Pages for everything I create both on the desktop and the iPad. I use Pages day in and day out on the iPad and on multiple computers and I'm well aware of what it can (and cannot) do. As far as I can see, Apple has shown little sign that they really care that much about those of us that have switched to their productivity apps. The iWork mobile apps feels very much like "placeholder" apps to me. IMO Apple really needs to step up their game here or they will be steamrollered.
I'm really rooting for Apple to pull it off this time, but it bears saying that even though Apple is currently far ahead of Microsoft on the mobile word processing front, there is still ample time for them to f*ck it up as they have before.
If Microsoft wasn't so colossally stupid, they would already have made iOS versions of Word and Excel, and already no one would rat's behind about iWork at all. The fact that Microsft has that idiot Balmer in charge and has reacted so slowly to the threat has given Apple a golden opportunity, that so far, they have squandered IMO.
Given the sheer volume of people using iOS devices, if they actually had a workable Office competitor on iOS that integrated with a workable competitor to office on the desktop, they might even be able to destroy the Office monopoly because their approach and their basic design is superior and the pressure of so many people using an alternative might get it to catch on. I worry however that they will simply display the hubris they have shown so many times and fail completely at this.
That sums up my opinion. They really need to be adding the features that people expect to have in their productivity apps. Apple really needs to try to get people using their productivity apps to lure them to the iOS group. Many people want to actually be able to do work with their iOS devices and not just dick around on the internet.
As it tuns out it looks like he miss-attributed a quote to Ballmer, made assumptions based on this mistake, then wrote an entire article about it.
This is the point where any blog with integrity would admit their error and update the article with the new information. We'll see what happens here on AI...
The world according the Dilger...
Speaking with financial analysts, Microsoft's chief executive Steve Ballmer answered questions about a Metro Office release by saying, "you ought to expect that we are rethinking and working hard on what it would mean to do Office Metro style."
Ballmer then revealed that Microsoft was still in the early stages of exploring the concept by saying, "the question is Metro interface for Office. How critical is it to Windows 8 adoption to have software that takes full advantage of Office with Metro??
The real world...
QUESTION: Thank you. On Office, I know there?s a development effort for Office for ARM. The question is Metro interface for Office. How critical is it to Windows 8 adoption to have software that takes full advantage of Office with Metro? It?s now only been about 15 months since the last release of Office. If we?re, say, a year away, still kind of on the cusp, I?m not sure if you had to choose to add functionality to Office, or you say let?s just do a Metro infrastructure. If you can kind of share with us your thoughts, particularly as it pertains to the adoption rate of Windows 8.
STEVE BALLMER: Yeah. No, we?re certainly ? as I said in my remarks this morning, supporting our platforms and having our platform support innovation in our applications broadly remains super important to us.
The brilliance of the Windows 8 strategy, though, is we get all of the applications that come from Windows on X86, as well as applications that have gone through the process of rethinking how they might work in a Windows 8 world. When we have something that we want to talk about, we will, but certainly you ought to expect that we are rethinking and working hard on what it would mean to do Office Metro style.
I must have some kind of subconscious masochist tendencies because I decided to check Dilger's sources again.
As it tuns out it looks like he miss-attributed a quote to Ballmer, made assumptions based on this mistake, then wrote an entire article about it.
This is the point where any blog with integrity would admit their error and update the article with the new information. We'll see what happens here on AI...
The world according the Dilger...
Speaking with financial analysts, Microsoft's chief executive Steve Ballmer answered questions about a Metro Office release by saying, "you ought to expect that we are rethinking and working hard on what it would mean to do Office Metro style."
Ballmer then revealed that Microsoft was still in the early stages of exploring the concept by saying, "the question is Metro interface for Office. How critical is it to Windows 8 adoption to have software that takes full advantage of Office with Metro??
The real world...
QUESTION: Thank you. On Office, I know there?s a development effort for Office for ARM. The question is Metro interface for Office. How critical is it to Windows 8 adoption to have software that takes full advantage of Office with Metro? It?s now only been about 15 months since the last release of Office. If we?re, say, a year away, still kind of on the cusp, I?m not sure if you had to choose to add functionality to Office, or you say let?s just do a Metro infrastructure. If you can kind of share with us your thoughts, particularly as it pertains to the adoption rate of Windows 8.
STEVE BALLMER: Yeah. No, we?re certainly ? as I said in my remarks this morning, supporting our platforms and having our platform support innovation in our applications broadly remains super important to us.
The brilliance of the Windows 8 strategy, though, is we get all of the applications that come from Windows on X86, as well as applications that have gone through the process of rethinking how they might work in a Windows 8 world. When we have something that we want to talk about, we will, but certainly you ought to expect that we are rethinking and working hard on what it would mean to do Office Metro style.
DED must have rolling fits of laughter as he spins his web of misinformation. I think he thinks he is a bit like Steve by having his own reality distortion field. I certainly continue to be amazed at how many people take what he says at face value.
Anyway, good work on the fact finding.
So lemme see...
It is OK for Apple to keep everything a secret until they release new features. But Microsoft is required to spell everything out to DED a year in advance?
Dude, grab some popcorn, don't get wrapped up around the axel... and watch the show.
Uh, no, it's quite simply that MS equivocates all the time, may introduce something to be released a year later, but end up dropping it.
There's a big difference between Jobs or Cook saying, "We're not going to talk about that", and an MS Exec saying "I'm not sure..." (which is what they seem to be quoted as saying in related articles about their plans for Metro and Office).
Additionally, MS is in the position of needing its enterprise clients. Apparently large Enterprise purchases take planning and time to roll out and budgeting. Hey, MS makes their bed, they have to lie in it. It's not this writer who is saying MS has to spell out their plans when they hint at this or that -- it's MS' clients. Enterprise clients don't want to be surprised by another Vista fiasco. Evenso, these clients don't seem that wowed by Metro. But apparently businesses only upgrade every other major release: they skipped Vista, and are just now starting to migrate from XP to 7. So, MS has three years to get it's act together and figure out which way the wind is blowing today, lol.
Apple doesn't especially go after big business clients; but what do you know, businesses are lapping up the iPad (which connects to MS Exchange, and databases and backend services better than MS products), and they are finding new uses for it in a corporate setting.
Quite rightly, DED is pointing out the gap that MS is leaving open by not having some simplified versions of Office available for different platforms -- all the while Metro may or may not come about as envisioned in a year's time, and may or may not ship with useful business apps, and MS may or may not think about making Metro versions of Office. Who knows? ...who cares?
Yes, Apple is very secretive and says very little -- but by golly they sure seem more predictable and reliable than MS: Apple make regular OS and iOS updates, they make keynote addresses in which they reveal some of their future plans, and if they say they are working to get documents seamlessly sync'ed across all your devices, then they are and it is going to happen.