Predict Apple's Office Suite ETA
http://www.macnn.com/news/23080
edit by Brad: Posting guidelines say to not post threads only with links or quoting material without offering some discussion of your own. I have added the text of the above-linked article below. Please abide by our rules in the future.
Infoworld: Office 2004 for Mac lags in XML support
Thursday, January 22, 2004 @ 10:55am
Infoworld reports on lack of XML support in Office 2004 for Macintosh, which MacNN first previewed earlier this month: "Although Office 2004 for Macintosh will read and write Excel files saved in XML format, it won't support other XML file formats, including WordML, and won't have any equivalent to Office 2003 features such as XML data binding, 'smart' documents, schema libraries and XSL style-sheet support. Without better XML support, companies with mixed Macintosh and PC desktops could be faced with the choice of not adopting the XML features or limiting them to Windows desktops only."
edit by Brad: Posting guidelines say to not post threads only with links or quoting material without offering some discussion of your own. I have added the text of the above-linked article below. Please abide by our rules in the future.
Infoworld: Office 2004 for Mac lags in XML support
Thursday, January 22, 2004 @ 10:55am
Infoworld reports on lack of XML support in Office 2004 for Macintosh, which MacNN first previewed earlier this month: "Although Office 2004 for Macintosh will read and write Excel files saved in XML format, it won't support other XML file formats, including WordML, and won't have any equivalent to Office 2003 features such as XML data binding, 'smart' documents, schema libraries and XSL style-sheet support. Without better XML support, companies with mixed Macintosh and PC desktops could be faced with the choice of not adopting the XML features or limiting them to Windows desktops only."
Comments
I note that this comes just in time for Microsoft to be dragged back into the antitrust courtroom again. Ha.
If Apple's working on an office suite, Steve just cracked the whip. This is getting ridiculous.
Originally posted by Amorph
Silly Microsoft. ... ridiculous.
Yes, you said that.
Rather than simply copy office what some people are looking for is a suite tailored to the needs of a writer. Hell with Adobe waffling on Framemaker maybe Apple might want to straddle the Beefy WP/Long Document maker just right. Sheesh why it's taken this long is silly. If we lose Office them many of us will be hosed until we get Virtual PC. Sobeit.
Perhaps, I'm taking my fantasy a bit too far, but Adobe is a major chess piece. Although from prior talks about an Adobe buyout, Apple has less cash than Adobe makes in a year, or something huge like that.
But anyway, prediction. Let's go with January 2005, Macworld Expo along side Mac OS X 10.4. Document, {Excel killer}, Keynote v2.0.
Originally posted by drewprops
Adobe is big and M$ would buy them before Apple could finish with their bake sale.
Adobe is worth about $9B. Big? Yes. Microsoft more able to purchase? Yes. Apple "bake sale" required? Probably not.
Originally posted by hmurchison
Rather than simply copy office what some people are looking for is a suite tailored to the needs of a writer.
This seems right to me. I think if Apple is to target the "word processing" domain ,it would do things differently somehow. It would really look at how people (80%) compose documents, and produce software that does that. Funny thing? It's have about 20% of the features of Word and everyone (except the "whiny few") will rave about it. Why? Because I can actually figure out how to use the damn thing, and it doesn't take up 400MB of disk space.
Word is bloatware. It's huge. It's trying to solve every problem known to man including world hunger and world peace. I want a "word process", not a "space shuttle"!
But, that's just my-ever-so-humble-opinion.
There is no market and no need. Corporate users will always use the MS suite ... and home users would simply bitch about the price tag and the lack of features ...
http://news.com.com/2100-1013_3-5146...l?tag=nefd_top
Some quotes of interest:
"Microsoft has applied for patents that could prevent competing applications from reading documents created with the latest version of the software giant's Office program. ...
The proposed patents apparently seek to protect methods other applications could use to interpret the XML dialect, or schema, Office uses to describe and organize information in documents. Microsoft recently agreed to publish those schemas and is looking at opening other chunks of Office code....
"This is a direct challenge to software vendors who want to interoperate with Word through XML," he said. "For example, if Corel wanted to improve WordPerfect's support of Word by adopting its XML format...for import/export, they'd probably have to license this patent." "
So if I get this striaght; Microsoft adopts an open standard-XML- then changes how its used somewhat. Then they patent the changes so that the open standard can't be used without going through Microsoft.
Apple please help-I want Office off my Mac ASAP!
So if I get this striaght; Microsoft adopts an open standard-XML- then changes how its used somewhat. Then they patent the changes so that the open standard can't be used without going through Microsoft.
and, somehow, this will be absolutely hunky-dory with the buying public, and the DOJ will take five years to realize what's going on and assemble a case, by which time XML will be driven to fringe status due to its poor implementation on the "dominant" platform, thereby getting it labeled a "failed" technology.
i swear, the DOJ is like Officer Barbrady: "Move along, you looky-loos. Nothing to see here..."
Originally posted by BNOYHTUAWB
It will simply never happen.
There is no market and no need. Corporate users will always use the MS suite ... and home users would simply bitch about the price tag and the lack of features ...
"I sure hope Apple's new, secret "device" isn't JUST an MP3 player."
"Why would Apple devote resources to a web browser?"
(Not direct, but representative, quotes from the past.)
Look, Apple is undoubtedly carefully hedging itself in case of a MS pull-out. What does Apple do if MS suddenly knocks on the door and says..."Hmmm...We ASSUME you'll be adding WMA support to iPod soon...after all...we're not quite sure if Office 2004 for Mac is going to make it out the door or not."
Originally posted by Chris Cuilla
"I sure hope Apple's new, secret "device" isn't JUST an MP3 player."
"Why would Apple devote resources to a web browser?"
(Not direct, but representative, quotes from the past.)
Look, Apple is undoubtedly carefully hedging itself in case of a MS pull-out. What does Apple do if MS suddenly knocks on the door and says..."Hmmm...We ASSUME you'll be adding WMA support to iPod soon...after all...we're not quite sure if Office 2004 for Mac is going to make it out the door or not."
... and how many: MS will stop making Office, MS will this and MS will that citations can you come up with. Ever thought about the fact that a prospering Apple is helping MS more than a dead Apple? It's always a nice argument against anti-trust charges: we're even delivering our flagship product office on that platform ...
Compared to Linux MS must love the Macintosh: they sell software for it ...
Originally posted by BNOYHTUAWB
... and how many: MS will stop making Office, MS will this and MS will that citations can you come up with. Ever thought about the fact that a prospering Apple is helping MS more than a dead Apple? It's always a nice argument against anti-trust charges: we're even delivering our flagship product office on that platform ...
Compared to Linux MS must love the Macintosh: they sell software for it ...
Agreed. However, the MS "quote" I provided is not exactly unprecedented. Story is MS did almost exactly that during the browser wars and also with QuickTime. Oh they also did it way back when the Mac came out in regards to Apple's Basic programming language for the Mac. This is how MS operates. I'm only saying that the threat exists...but only has power if Apple doesn't have a "Plan B". I think they have a "Plan B" that they will invoke if necessary.
The Macintosh platform doesn't live because of Office therefore it cannot die without it. MS wouldn't be complaining about low sales if every Mac user was laying out the deniro for Office.
If Apple hopes to attract any business users they will need an Office Suite and Back Office Suite. Pinning the hopes of Apple success in the Enteprise using microsoft products is like microsoft holding Apples whacker when they pee. Keep your pride and joy near you and in your safe "hands"
Funny..I hear people say "how could you improve office?" well that's exactly what i'm looking for. Most WP products are still using the same paradigm for document creation. A few new ideas would help. I wouldn't mind Apple creating their own suiting and then working out an OEM deal with MS to provide Office 200x cheaply along with new Macintosh systems. That way the entry price for Office is cheaper but for those that want an Apple suite and don't need .doc compatibiliy we can choose the Appe version if we should like to.
Originally posted by hmurchison
The hell with Microsoft.
The Macintosh platform doesn't live because of Office therefore it cannot die without it. MS wouldn't be complaining about low sales if every Mac user was laying out the deniro for Office.
Doubtless they'll be shocked - shocked! - to discover that even fewer Mac users are interested in shelling out for a version that isn't even document-compatible with the Windows version! That's the only reason most people buy Word on either platform! And, of course, they're registering those patents to head off - or at least control - anyone who tries to fill that little feature gap.
Bad Microsoft! No cookie!
All of these things are still laborious in Word and other word processors. Thee footnotes thing would probably be the toughest, the graphics, text wrapping and tables seem like a piece of cake with the current technology in OS X.
Dovetailing a word processor (Thesis.app?) with presentation software isn't too hard either. A spreadsheet is probably needed to help in that. I don't think they should sweat making an Excel killer though, it is the best of the Office programs. Make it competitive in features, make a cleaner UI, and let the graphics, video and audio tech carry the package. Filemaker (and its targeted applications) could be brought into the loop too.
If Apple could make importing, moving and editing graphics easier, make text wrapping easy, and get tables right, they would have Word beat. Hell, if they really wanted to kick MS' butt, they would add support for several style guides (Chicago, NY Times, etc.) and make footnotes, end notes and/or bibliographies a snap.
Maybe Apple should just shovel some $$$ to Adobe and get them to write and OS X version of FrameMaker.
It's been years since the Apple/Gobe speculation surfaced and the same number of years that AppleWorks has been left to whither.
There is definitely an AppleWorks team in place, and if they've spent all this time working on the 6.2.9 update, they should be hoisted on the next MacWorld stage and pelted with power bricks.
(Apple there or not, I'd go to Boston to see that.)
Something exists, deep in the vaults of Cupertino. The question is whether it's a Star-Trek-style hedge against Microsoft, or a real "let's-do-battle-take-no-prisoners" kind of surprise release.
To win such a brawl, I think MS' pulling of Office should be taken as a given. Out of the box, the suite must include:
? Mac and Windows versions.
Mac version has Wordprocessor, Spreadsheet, Keynote, Filemaker and a business oriented Mail, iCal, Address Book combo.
Windows version with Wordprocessor, Spreadsheet, Filemaker and combo program only. No Keynote.
Linux Word Processor and speadsheet only.
? Document compatibility among all versions.
Maybe deal with StarOffice and kOffice to all support the same open format.
? Exchange server and new Xserve-compatibility/hosting.
Anything else?
I still like the general suit of apps offered in AppleWorks. I've made/fine-tuned nearly all my scientific charts in MacDraw/ClarisDraw/AppleWorks over the last decade. It is a great little app for what it does. Illustrater is really overkill and over difficult for the job in most cases. Wish they would keep it part of the package-but updated!
Originally posted by Chris Cuilla
"I sure hope Apple's new, secret "device" isn't JUST an MP3 player."
"Why would Apple devote resources to a web browser?"
(Not direct, but representative, quotes from the past.)
Very good points. I was one of the ones who said Apple would never make a browser, it is just too hard to get right, I was proved wrong. I was about to reply with a similar response to this thread: Apple will never make a new Office suite it is too hard to tackle Microsoft on such a huge product. I still don't think they will a productivity suite is a huge undertaking compared to a single browser, especially when it would have to 100% Office compatible if it were to gain any serious usage.
Anything is possible though.