Microsoft Office 365 for the iPad is now free to all
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My iPad had updates this morning for the Office 365 apps and upon reading the update notes, it stated the following.
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Yes I just saw that when setting up my new ipad!
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Wow, that's pretty awesome.
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So Office is free for iOS tablets but several hundred dollars for Windows tablets? Interesting.
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@Carnival-Boy said:
So Office is free for iOS tablets but several hundred dollars for Windows tablets? Interesting.
If they aren't Windows Phone tablets. My guess is that it is or will be free on Windows mobile devices almost right away.
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I didn't know you could get tablets running Windows Phone.
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@Carnival-Boy said:
I didn't know you could get tablets running Windows Phone.
Used to be able to, or Windows RT which is a mobile, not full, OS. Anyone is free to make one. Lack of market is really the issue, not a lack of software, though. There isn't a handy, free option in the Microsoft world because Microsoft isn't playing in the space at this time. At least not in a serious way.
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Hmmn. I read it's only free for non-commercial use? That's not so awesome. How many people use Office purely for non-commercial use?
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@Carnival-Boy said:
Hmmn. I read it's only free for non-commercial use? That's not so awesome. How many people use Office purely for non-commercial use?
Ah, interesting. Students, mostly. Which is actually a lot of people.
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@scottalanmiller said:
Ah, interesting. Students, mostly. Which is actually a lot of people.
Students already get full Office 365 for free though.
My wife will make use of this because the Japanese school we have the kids attending on Saturdays always sends everything out in Excel or Word. I always have to open it to edit and such before she sends it back. Now, I will just put the Office apps on her iPad2 and she can do it.
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Any student? Or just those with large, registered schools?
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@scottalanmiller said:
Any student? Or just those with large, registered schools?
It is not just large registered schools. They do have criteria in place, but I am not aware of the details.
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@JaredBusch said:
@scottalanmiller said:
Any student? Or just those with large, registered schools?
It is not just large registered schools. They do have criteria in place, but I am not aware of the details.
Like... how would my kids use it, for example.
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This is very appropriate timing. InfoWorld has an article today on how the free versions of MS Office for iOS and Android are a slap in the face to Windows Phone users. I have to agree. Uses are being punished for vendor loyalty.
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That seems to be what I am seeing from Windows users. Why is everyone "else" getting major free stuff?
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Paul Thurott has been talking about this on Windows Weekly for a while now. He's stated that we'll probably see many MS products produced in this new 'Cloud First' world for other platforms before created for their own platforms (i.e. iOS and Android before Windows Phone). The reasoning seem quite obvious to me - Since WP only has 2-5% of the market, they will gain much greater acceptance/use by at least starting on the platforms that own the market.
Paul is also of the opinion that WP while not dead, is definitely not at the forefront of MS's mind. One wonders if they are going to just kill WP altogether?
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No cloud first here. There is nothing cloud related here. It's just traditional software for mobile devices that aren't Windows.
WP isn't dead? That's news to me
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@scottalanmiller said:
WP isn't dead? That's news to me
If it is, why in the world did they buy Nokia?
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@Dashrender said:
If it is, why in the world did they buy Nokia?
To keep them from suddenly dropping WP and going to Android?
