Microsoft Office may come to iPad before Windows 8

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Comments

  • Reply 21 of 98
    chris_cachris_ca Posts: 2,543member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by webweasel View Post



    If this is possible, the geniuses at Microsoft might even get round to adding CalDav support this side of the next decade...

    Yeah, but it won't quite meet the CalDav standard. Something will be screwy and they'll never fix it.

  • Reply 22 of 98
    Mmm...

    If MS brings Excel to iOS:
    [LIST]
    [*] Wouldn't they need to provide Macro [Programming] capability?
    [*] Aren't Excel Macros written in VBA (Visual Basic)?
    [*] Isn't Visual Basic a [I]programming[/I] language?
    [*] Would Apple allow an app that includes a [I]programming[/I] language on iOS?
    [/LIST]
  • Reply 23 of 98
    clemynxclemynx Posts: 1,552member
    I wouldn't want to bash MS just because, but they are so easy to bash.
    I'm still shocked that of ALL the applications I've installed on my Mac, the Office suite is the ONLY ONE that doesn't follow the Apple philosophy. All apps manage to hide all their configuration files into a container, ALL, even those from very small developers. MS developers, well, they didn't care about that, so there's this big folder full of stuff that no user should see. It's baffling. They can't even follow a simple rule.
  • Reply 24 of 98
    clemynxclemynx Posts: 1,552member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by justp1ayin View Post



    I use Excel for work and Numbers at home, and I hate excel honestly. Way too cluttered.... Ill stick with my Numbers, and export to an Excel spreadsheet if need be.

     

    Numbers is really really horrible for using with big spreadsheets. I don't do that myself, but I can't see anyone using for serious accountability work due to its inability to quickly manage big data.

     

    http://mjtsai.com/blog/2013/10/27/numbers-13-performance/

     

    They have to do something about it. The UI is great and it could be so much better.

  • Reply 25 of 98

    Whether it's Office or iWork, the iPad has never struck me as a very good place to get much real work done.  I can work five times faster on a real laptop with keyboard and decent-sized screen.   As for spreadsheets on a 9" display (or Numbers for that matter), no thanks.  

  • Reply 26 of 98
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by dsuden View Post

     

    Whether it's Office or iWork, the iPad has never struck me as a very good place to get much real work done.  I can work five times faster on a real laptop with keyboard and decent-sized screen.   As for spreadsheets on a 9" display (or Numbers for that matter), no thanks.  


    It's a complement, not a substitute for corporate-type work.

  • Reply 27 of 98
    dsuden wrote: »
    Whether it's Office or iWork, the iPad has never struck me as a very good place to get much real work done.  I can work five times faster on a real laptop with keyboard and decent-sized screen.   As for spreadsheets on a 9" display (or Numbers for that matter), no thanks.  

    I don't think anyone, here, expects to develop a major spreadsheet design, or do mass data input on an iPad.

    However, it is very valuable to be able to access a spreadsheet created elsewhere and make minor updates and changes at will.

    In some situations, having up-to-date data means everything.

    Pipped by @anantksundaram who said it better
  • Reply 28 of 98
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by ClemyNX View Post

     

     

    Numbers is really really horrible for using with big spreadsheets. I don't do that myself, but I can't see anyone using for serious accountability work due to its inability to quickly manage big data.

     

    http://mjtsai.com/blog/2013/10/27/numbers-13-performance/

     

    They have to do something about it. The UI is great and it could be so much better.


     

    Oh I can see why people would use Excel.

  • Reply 29 of 98
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Dick Applebaum View Post



    Mmm...



    If MS brings Excel to iOS:

    • Wouldn't they need to provide Macro [Programming] capability?

    • Aren't Excel Macros written in VBA (Visual Basic)?

    • Isn't Visual Basic a programming language?

    • Would Apple allow an app that includes a programming language on iOS?




    No, they wouldn't.  Chances are Office for iPad won't have feature-parity with the desktop version in the same manner that iWork for iPad doesn't support AppleScript but iWork on OSX does.

  • Reply 30 of 98
    crowleycrowley Posts: 10,453member
    Mmm...

    If MS brings Excel to iOS:
    • Wouldn't they need to provide Macro [Programming] capability?
    • Aren't Excel Macros written in VBA (Visual Basic)?
    • Isn't Visual Basic a programming language?
    • Would Apple allow an app that includes a programming language on iOS?
    No
    Yes
    Yes
    Maybe
  • Reply 31 of 98
    mstonemstone Posts: 11,510member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by anantksundaram View Post

     

    That said, it'll be nice to have Excel for iPad.


    Don't expect it to be feature parity with the Windows desktop version.

  • Reply 32 of 98
    I used to hate Windows until I ran it on a Mac. Hopefully this will have the safe effect seeing as how they've finally admitted the PC era truly is going away as the go-to hardware. I need a true Word program for my ipad. These others just aren't compatible with today's yesterworld.
  • Reply 33 of 98
    tbelltbell Posts: 3,146member

    Sure, but they haven’t been staggered with Apple first since… well, the beginning.

    Not true. When Jobs struck the five year Zoffice deal with Apple, Microsoft released at least one version first on the Mac.
  • Reply 34 of 98
    paxmanpaxman Posts: 4,729member
    mstone wrote: »
    Don't expect it to be feature parity with the Windows desktop version.
    And if it does it will be unusable. Excel is like the 'pro' version of Numbers, way too feature heavy to provide a good user experience on an iPad. Numbers is a good iPad spreadsheet but generally speaking, spreadsheets work so much better with a mouse and a larger screen. Excel for iPad will have very limited appeal I reckon, but will probably sell well on name alone.
  • Reply 35 of 98
    clemynx wrote: »
    I wouldn't want to bash MS just because, but they are so easy to bash.
    I'm still shocked that of ALL the applications I've installed on my Mac, the Office suite is the ONLY ONE that doesn't follow the Apple philosophy. All apps manage to hide all their configuration files into a container, ALL, even those from very small developers. MS developers, well, they didn't care about that, so there's this big folder full of stuff that no user should see. It's baffling. They can't even follow a simple rule.
    So can I assume you've never installed any Adobe Suites or programs? No excuses, just saying that MS isn't the only one that gets away with App install murder.
  • Reply 36 of 98
    I don't think anyone, here, expects to develop a major spreadsheet design, or do mass data input on an iPad.

    However, it is very valuable to be able to access a spreadsheet created elsewhere and make minor updates and changes at will.

    In some situations, having up-to-date data means everything.

    Pipped by @anantksundaram who said it better
    While true it is immensely advantagious to be able to update a spreadsheet, but you also brought up the problem of VB macros... I'm also curious how they're going to implement that. Strictly embedded possibly with no editing of the Macro?

    I've also wondered how it is that a number crunching program and sheets with 50k to even a 1mil. cells can be so much slower than say, "number crunching pixels" such as in Photoshop or FCPX. I often have PS layered files over a gig, and can still work and edit rather smoothly and in real time, not to mention FCPX.

    It's all just ones and zeros, so any ideas or insight on that?
  • Reply 37 of 98
    Re: VB Script
    It certainly is odd that MS with complete control and access to the underlying OS can't get this working on their own devices... and that it's still not feature compatible on mobile. With that said, even the power of iOS APIs and cloud parity seems to be taking time at Apple.

    Re: Number Crunching
    I'm only guessing here, but on any mobile device there must be a way to isolate subsets of cells or areas of a spreadsheet. Dropping the whole thing into RAM is not going to work so well for the biz users with mega sheets. I rarily work with Excel or Numbers, but in the pixel world, I'm visioning something similar to thumbnails or optimized PDFs for selection purposes... "Flattened Data Views" if you will. Any thoughts?
  • Reply 38 of 98
    canukstorm wrote: »
    Mmm...


    If MS brings Excel to iOS:
    • Wouldn't they need to provide Macro [Programming] capability?
    • Aren't Excel Macros written in VBA (Visual Basic)?
    • Isn't Visual Basic a programming language?
    • Would Apple allow an app that includes a programming language on iOS?


    No, they wouldn't.  Chances are Office for iPad won't have feature-parity with the desktop version in the same manner that iWork for iPad doesn't support AppleScript but iWork on OSX does.

    Okay, then what's the advantage?
  • Reply 39 of 98
    I don't think anyone, here, expects to develop a major spreadsheet design, or do mass data input on an iPad.

    However, it is very valuable to be able to access a spreadsheet created elsewhere and make minor updates and changes at will.

    In some situations, having up-to-date data means everything.

    Pipped by @anantksundaram who said it better
    While true it is immensely advantagious to be able to update a spreadsheet, but you also brought up the problem of VB macros... I'm also curious how they're going to implement that. Strictly embedded possibly with no editing of the Macro?

    I've also wondered how it is that a number crunching program and sheets with 50k to even a 1mil. cells can be so much slower than say, "number crunching pixels" such as in Photoshop or FCPX. I often have PS layered files over a gig, and can still work and edit rather smoothly and in real time, not to mention FCPX.

    It's all just ones and zeros, so any ideas or insight on that?

    It's not the 1s and 0s that bother me – it's the loops!
  • Reply 40 of 98

    So they finally admit they are a Software company ?

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