Microsoft Office

Office no longer an iOS must-have

Written by

Derek Kessler:

Had Microsoft launched Office on the iPhone and iPad early on, they could have furthered the impression that Office was a must-have for anybody serious about anything, even on iOS. But they let years pass, and now Microsoft’s flagship applications aren’t so must-have anymore and Apple isn’t overly eager to accommodate them. It’s easy to imagine that four years ago when preparing to launch the iPhone App Store Apple may have been more willing to negotiate with Microsoft to get flagship apps like Word and Excel on the smartphone. But today? Apple’s doing just fine without them.

Spot on.

Microsoft Office for iOS

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Microsoft product manager Petr Bobek has confirmed that the software maker is planning to release native iOS and Android versions of Office 2013 next year.

I’ll tell you this — if Office for iOS is anything like Office for the Surface tablet, it will suck balls. Microsoft has to release a touch-enabled and optimized version for it to be successful.

Office 2013 is sad on touch devices

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These are not touch applications, and you will not want to use them on touch systems. They’re designed for mice and they’re designed for keyboards, and making the buttons on the ribbon larger does nothing to change that fundamental fact.

This is exactly what I’ve said all along. Desktop apps do not transition to a touch-enabled environment very well at all. No matter how much Microsoft wants it to work, it’s not going to happen. This is why Apple developed touch-enabled versions of Keynote, Numbers and Pages.

The future of Office for Mac and iOS

Written by

Chris Breen, Macworld:

Macworld has learned that when the new Office launches, Microsoft will deliver an update to Office for Mac 2011. With this update, Office for Mac licenses can count as part of an Office 365 Home Premium subscription, making it possible to access your Office documents in the cloud.

There will also be Office Mobile for iOS.

Microsoft Office for iPad

Written by

Matt Hickey for The Daily:

Word, Excel and PowerPoint files can be created and edited locally and online. But it’s unclear if Microsoft will support other Office apps at launch or at all.

∞ Microsoft releases Office for Mac 2011 SP1

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Microsoft on Tuesday released Office for Mac 2011 Service Pack 1, fixing a number of issues and improving security.

According to Microsoft, the update includes fixes for vulnerabilities that an attacker can use to overwrite the contents of your computer’s memory with malicious code.

As outlined when The Loop spoke with Microsoft last week, the biggest new features of SP1 come in Outlook.

Read the rest of this story on The Loop

∞ Office for Mac 2011 SP1 coming next week

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Microsoft will release Office for Mac 2011 Service Pack 1 sometime next week, the company told The Loop on Wednesday.

The SP1 update will be big for Mac users and will contain increased stability, security, performance enhancements, and some new features. The biggest new features will come in Outlook.

The update will enable calendar syncing between Outlook for Mac and Apple’s Sync Services. This means you can now sync your Outlook calendars, as well as your contacts, notes and tasks with any service or device that supports Sync Services.

That includes your iPhone and iPad. Microsoft’s Senior Director of Product Management, Pat Fox, told The Loop that this was one of the most requested features from Office for Mac 2011 users.

Read the rest of this story on The Loop