Yesterday’s top news was Office for iPad; but that was only a part of the story – Microsoft also released Office for Android and made it free to download, requiring no Office 365 subscription whatsoever. Yes, you will be able to view AND edit Word, Excel and PowerPoint files while on the go for free. If you, however, want your docs, spreadsheets and presentations synced with your computer, you’ll still have to pay Microsoft for the Office 365 license.
The move to open-up the company’s cash cow comes as part of the new CEO’s “cloud first, mobile first” strategy that we already like. Those who need to get some serious work done will pay for Office, anyway.
While free solutions like Google Docs are getting better with the day, they are still not the “real Office replacement.” Fans of the Excel used to say that the only replacement for Excel could be the earlier version of Excel. No other software comes even close to managing spreadsheets.
On the other hand, by releasing Office to competing platforms (iOS and Android), Microsoft may have lost the major selling point for Windows Phone. And this will likely remain true until we get “Windows One,” which will work across platforms, Ubuntu style.
Microsoft Office Mobile (FREE) [Google Play Store]