Microsoft has released software on Apple products for decades; no surprise here and it's business as usual.
This is different. Can MS get the pricing they would want? It's not thought so. If they have to sell the components to compete with Apple's pricing on their iWork components. Even if they could charge more, the question is how much more? What if people decided to buy this instead of a more expensive version? What if they bought this instead of their own mobile version for their Metro ARM tablet? And could they then charge more for the Metro version?
It's a big question. In addition, they would give legitimacy to the iPad at the expense of trying to sell their own OS. Considering that corporations are already buying iPads by the thousands in a large number of cases already, this would only give them a better excuse to keep doing so after Win 8 tablets arrive later next year.
This is a dance that MS will have a difficult time winning. With The Mac, they had little choice, as the Feds might have come down on them for monopoly practices resulting in damage to a competitor. But that can't be said about a real mobile version, as Apple has too much of the market, and Ms has essentially none right now.
Considering the old joke about Word, that 80% of users use 20% of the features, that would make Word a joke, wouldn't it? Actually Pages is pretty good. But it's not designed as a specialized program. Apple leaves that to MS.
So if Apple puts in the 20% that the 80% use, plus some extras, then it's a pretty good program for most uses, including that of small businesses, which, by the way, do use Pages, Numbers, etc. when you consider the costs, either for the OS X. Suit, or the apps, it's a pretty good bargain.
The problem is that the 20% that I use is probably different than the 20% you use. iWork clearly has more than 20% of the features of MS Office, but even missing just one often-used feature is a deal-breaker.
The problem is that the 20% that I use is probably different than the 20% you use. iWork clearly has more than 20% of the features of MS Office, but even missing just one often-used feature is a deal-breaker.
In general, most people will use the same 20%. People who need more sophisticated services will still be using that same 20% in addition. And of course, that's not a strict rule, and iWorks isn't 20% of Office, it's much more.
But I don't expect to write a technical book in Pages, and wouldn't be happy doing so in Word either. But Word is better for legal documents. For anything sophisticated, I use InDesign, and a word processor is just a text editor, so almost anything often works.
Comments
Microsoft has released software on Apple products for decades; no surprise here and it's business as usual.
This is different. Can MS get the pricing they would want? It's not thought so. If they have to sell the components to compete with Apple's pricing on their iWork components. Even if they could charge more, the question is how much more? What if people decided to buy this instead of a more expensive version? What if they bought this instead of their own mobile version for their Metro ARM tablet? And could they then charge more for the Metro version?
It's a big question. In addition, they would give legitimacy to the iPad at the expense of trying to sell their own OS. Considering that corporations are already buying iPads by the thousands in a large number of cases already, this would only give them a better excuse to keep doing so after Win 8 tablets arrive later next year.
This is a dance that MS will have a difficult time winning. With The Mac, they had little choice, as the Feds might have come down on them for monopoly practices resulting in damage to a competitor. But that can't be said about a real mobile version, as Apple has too much of the market, and Ms has essentially none right now.
none of their software is suited to a device without tactile controls.
WiiMote
That is all.
Considering the old joke about Word, that 80% of users use 20% of the features, that would make Word a joke, wouldn't it? Actually Pages is pretty good. But it's not designed as a specialized program. Apple leaves that to MS.
So if Apple puts in the 20% that the 80% use, plus some extras, then it's a pretty good program for most uses, including that of small businesses, which, by the way, do use Pages, Numbers, etc. when you consider the costs, either for the OS X. Suit, or the apps, it's a pretty good bargain.
The problem is that the 20% that I use is probably different than the 20% you use. iWork clearly has more than 20% of the features of MS Office, but even missing just one often-used feature is a deal-breaker.
The problem is that the 20% that I use is probably different than the 20% you use. iWork clearly has more than 20% of the features of MS Office, but even missing just one often-used feature is a deal-breaker.
In general, most people will use the same 20%. People who need more sophisticated services will still be using that same 20% in addition. And of course, that's not a strict rule, and iWorks isn't 20% of Office, it's much more.
But I don't expect to write a technical book in Pages, and wouldn't be happy doing so in Word either. But Word is better for legal documents. For anything sophisticated, I use InDesign, and a word processor is just a text editor, so almost anything often works.