Microsoft isn't concerned about losing the high end uses of Excel and Word, it's people not needing Word or Excel for documents or spreadsheets. They're already losing the very bottom end to Google Docs and other online tools, the question is whether they can hold the middle.
Office and Windows have a symbiotic relationship, and most of Microsoft's other products hang off of these two. Losing Office or Windows could prove disastrous for Microsoft.
I don't think MS Office* has ever really held the low end though, no? That was held by Works back in the day, or even WordPad. And if it was Word, then it was most likely on some educational discount or hardware bundle, meaning not much revenue in the first place for Microsoft.
Lately Google Docs and Pages have filled those spots, but I suspect this giveaway is just shoring up or buffering their stronghold in the workplace.
Strongly agreed on the symbiotic relationship. I actually bought a full version of Win7 and VMWare Fusion just to run the "real" Office apps on my Mac. (Tellingly, the actual Office Suite was only $10, through the Home Use Program)
* EDIT: Changed "I don't think Microsoft has ever..."
On Windows they always held the low end with a free version of Office, which was a pirated copy. This is much harder on iOS, and I think with this move Microsoft acknowledges that they need to offer this version too.
Comments
Microsoft isn't concerned about losing the high end uses of Excel and Word, it's people not needing Word or Excel for documents or spreadsheets. They're already losing the very bottom end to Google Docs and other online tools, the question is whether they can hold the middle.
Office and Windows have a symbiotic relationship, and most of Microsoft's other products hang off of these two. Losing Office or Windows could prove disastrous for Microsoft.
I don't think MS Office* has ever really held the low end though, no? That was held by Works back in the day, or even WordPad. And if it was Word, then it was most likely on some educational discount or hardware bundle, meaning not much revenue in the first place for Microsoft.
Lately Google Docs and Pages have filled those spots, but I suspect this giveaway is just shoring up or buffering their stronghold in the workplace.
Strongly agreed on the symbiotic relationship. I actually bought a full version of Win7 and VMWare Fusion just to run the "real" Office apps on my Mac. (Tellingly, the actual Office Suite was only $10, through the Home Use Program)
* EDIT: Changed "I don't think Microsoft has ever..."
On Windows they always held the low end with a free version of Office, which was a pirated copy. This is much harder on iOS, and I think with this move Microsoft acknowledges that they need to offer this version too.
Microsoft never really held the low end, because that was instead held by Works, WordPad, or Word?
What?
Oops, edited.