Microsoft Office Is Now Free on iOS and Android Mobile Devices
 

http://www.nbcnews.com/tech/mobile/m...evices-n242696

I'm surprised that MS would put their key product on two of their biggest competitors.

I predict all 1s and 0s to be free someday?!.

the only thing I've liked about office (long ago now) is the grammar checking is or was better than most but never internet searches on correct "syntax" or schooling in general. :D

I use libreoffice and KOffice. They're good enough for my needs. Also, I don't use any kind of office apps on smartphones; I'll usually use the default text/document reader on the device.

A quick look at the links (it took a little digging to get to something specific) seems to indicate that you need to create a Microsoft logon and that documents will be stored "in the cloud."

I'd sooner use Google docs, and I refuse to use Google docs.

Well, it is worrysome why it was not free in the beginning. I like office but their mobile apps are a load of crap.

True libre et all satisfies 90% of what I do as well, but vba in excel is one of the main reasons i stick. Indesign and excel are my main two reasons for keeping a machine alive in the corner fot windows.

I use spreadsheets extensively and AFAIR Open Office also has a basic scripting language which may be what you need. Did you try it out? Generally I find that if you set the defaults to be the same, OpenOfficeCalc reads very well in excel and vice versa.

Like wise did you try out scribus as an alternative for indesign?

Yes this point is missed by everyone. The cloud version (Office 365) doesn't have all the features of the regular MS_Office on the desktop and so isn't different from any other free suite.

AFAIR Office 365 is free only on devices having screen size less than 4.5 inches or something similar.

OK

For years I've used a non-free app on my phone called "Docs to Go." I first started using it almost eight years ago when I had a HTC Excalibur Windows CE phone (iPhones and Android did not exist yet) and had to access my client's Excel spreadsheets on the go for a gig I had.

It works great, doesn't cost much, and doesn't want me to create any logins or float in any clouds; I'm still using it on my HTC One. It and rar for Linux are likely the only bits of software I've paid for since I started using Linux.

I've been using AndrOpenOffice and sync with my own cloud.

If you have a good office suite on your base desktop or laptop (Open office in my case), you can get away with free versions on the phone or tablet. Note that QuickOffice has a free version for symbian also. You dont need to pay big bucks to microsoft or any other organization anymore for office suites.

OK

Yes, but many businesses are still buying MS office suites because it's the norm or the standard in business. I'm sure some people in IT probably mentioned libreoffice to their bosses at some time.

If businesses are still preferring to use MS office suites over the alternatives, it's probably because there are features only exclusive to MS Office products.

However, there are some businesses and organizations that I've read and heard that are using opensource tools like libreoffice and it's a good starting point.

It's not the features.

Do not underestimate the power of inertia. Large organizations do not like change; it is disruptive and difficult.

Windows is the established desktop in the Enterprise. To try to turn a business with hundreds or thousands of computers and users in a different direction is a daunting task. Add to that IT departments who know Windows and don't know Linux and, consequently, see job security in the status quo--well, organizational dynamics are against change. Organization dynamics are always against change.

The City of Munich migrated to Linux, and spent ten years doing so in a planned and methodical fashion. And there are still those who are agin' it.

Not to mention money talks and laziness\demoralization (or misrepresentation) is rampid, providing a service is much harder than than making the "software" now a days...
r\evol\ve\ution!

Yep, too many end users get stuck in the current way of doing things and can't learn a new way. It would take a lot of time for a company to retrain users how to sue a different office suite.
I find myself far less productive in MSoffice than OOO. Mostly due to the inconsistent UI. The item I'm looking for will be under one menu in excel and a different menu in word and yet a different menu in outlook.

I feel your pain.:)

MS thinks it has to move stuff around in each new release to convince users that they are getting something new, much like car makers in the 50s and 60s would move the chrome around on each year's new models. Just like those car buyers, MS users are getting last year's models in new packaging.

And I'm trying to convince Firefox of that. I don't want the buttons where they moved them and its not about resistance to change its because nothing else on my computer has a mini menu on the right so I want the Firefox menus in the same place for consistency.

WRT to Office. I value all my personal documents and won't use MS's format because they have dropped support for older formats in the past with newer versions so I've had documents I could no longer open. I've also had MS office crash and corrupt my documents at work more than once. I've had OO crash and recover a few times at home but its never lost hours of work like MS does.

I did try google docs for a bit but it was so slow and cumbersome its not even useable. I'm sitting on a 10M internet connection and try to scroll through a couple pages and it just sits waiting.

So far OOo has been the most robust. I have my own sync server running now so when I edit one on my laptop it just syncs with my phone/tablet.