Microsoft won’t make Office editing free on iOS/Android, so Google does | Ars Technica.
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In what I can only describe as the continuing downfall of Microsoft, we bring you more news from the mobile frontlines. Microsoft has decided that in order to use the Office app on Android and iOS devices you must have an Office 365 subscription. All I can say to this is: “Are you insane?”
People have been using Office since … well since it came out basically. The idea that you’re going to force people to get Office 365 subscriptions (let’s not get started on the whole applications as subscriptions nonsense, because I can rave and rant about that for hours on end) is largely absurd. That you’re requiring it to use the mobile app can only be described as moronic.
On the flip side of that coin, we now have Google and Apple, with what I will describe as a Nelson Muntz “Ha ha!” (Image) attack on Microsoft. QuickOffice is now a free application for iOS and Android devices. Apple follows suit by making iWorks free with new iOS devices. Great job guys! This is what the open market is for.
Frankly, I am a little annoyed with how you add multiple accounts to QuickOffice on Android (tap the box where your picture would be, select “Change Account”, sign in again, etc)and that lack of Dropbox/Box/Other File Host is very frustrating. With those two gripes in mind, having access to any file on any of your Google Drive accounts is a great thing. Having the ability to edit them on the fly (with minor loss of fidelity, as often happens with mobile editing of Office-created documents) is a great move.
Why Microsoft exec’s didn’t see this coming is beyond me.
Just another missed opportunity. How unfortunate.
