It’s not often that you’ll read anything on this blog that is even remotely favorable to Microsoft. In fact, most who know me would say that I delight in bashing Microsoft. And they would be correct. After 20 years of using and supporting Microsoft products, I switched to Macs back in 2007 and haven’t regretted that decision ever since. Not even a little bit.
However, I realize that not everyone wants to follow my footsteps as completely as I have, and for whatever reason they may still need to maintain a Microsoft environment. (My computing eco-system includes 3 iMacs, 1 MacBook Pro, 2 second generation iPads, an iPad mini and two iPhone 5 phones)
For those of you who have iPads, using Pages, Numbers and Keynote has been your best alternative to creating and using word processing docs, presentations and spreadsheets. The iPad apps could not only create native Mac documents but could also do a reasonable job of working with Microsoft Office documents.
The problem appeared when you had to share them with Microsoft Office users who did not have access to Apple products. Even though they could open, read and modify Word, Powerpoint or Excel docs, they could not even open the Keynote, Pages or Numbers docs that you could create with your iPad. Big problem, unless you wanted to go through a conversion process on your desktop computer before sharing the docs along to others.
Microsoft recently released Office 365 for the iPad as FREE apps that can be downloaded from the app store. You can get an iPhone app here: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/microsoft-office-mobile/id541164041?mt=8. This is an iPhone only app.
The apps for the iPad are here:
Word: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/microsoft-word-for-ipad/id586447913?mt=8
Excel: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/microsoft-excel-for-ipad/id586683407?mt=8
Powerpoint: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/microsoft-powerpoint-for-ipad/id586449534?mt=8
Why Microsoft made an Office Mobile App for the iPhone that includes Word, Excel and Powerpoint, but makes you download Word, Excel and Powerpoint separately for the iPad is beyond me…just goes to prove my point that Microsoft just doesn’t “get it”.
But at any rate, if you find yourself needing to work with existing Microsoft Office documents on your iPhone, then this is a welcome addition. Of course, if you want to CREATE a Word, Excel or Powerpoint presentation you’ll have to pay! As near as I can tell, the best value (if you have more than one computer) is to purchase Office 365 Home for $9.95 a month (or $99.00 on an annual subscription). This will give you access for 5 PCs or Macs, 5 tablets like Windows tablets and/or iPads®, plus easy access on multiple smartphones.
So, if you you MUST use Microsoft office, this may be the best option for you. As for me? I’m sticking with Apple’s iWork products of Pages, Numbers and Keynote.
What do you think?
