back to article Satya Nadella's first act may be to launch Office for iPad

New Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella is reportedly about to reveal Office for the iPad. Invitations to an event at which Nadella will appear on March 27th have started to land on reporters' desks around the USA, and favoured outlets like the WSJ-refugee-founded Re|Code and Reuters appear to be receiving pre-event whispers to the …

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  1. Charles Manning

    Poor bastard

    While they probably make it worthwhile down at the bank, this poor bloke drinks from a poisoned chalice.

    Gates (and Ballmer) both think Ballmer did a great job. That means Nadella won't be allowed to spread his wings properly or implement the serious changes Microsoft needs.

    He certainly will not be allowed to "do a Jobs".

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Poor bastard

      And what makes you think he would even be able to do a "jobs" when he's been working there for the last twenty years. If he didn't figure out what sort of refreshments they would be serving he deserves it. Quite frankly, the most I expect from Nadella is a slight course correction, certainly nothing big.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Poor bastard

        Anything different that he'll do will probably turn into a disaster. Sinofsky tried to do something different, didn't he?

        They needed fresh blood, not a yes-man. Someone who's seen the world from outside Microsoft. Someone's who's actually used the fast amount of better products out there, and has been stung by Microsoft, like the rest of the world.

        People that I know who've worked at Microsoft just turn into blithering pro-Microsoft campaigners.. trolling non-MS crap in forums. Brainwashing turns their high staff turn-over into a positive.

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Poor bastard

        Maybe you failed to notice that Nadella run one of the most successul division at Microsoft - sure, for example he understands the server side equation of the IT business much more than any Jobs, someone who couldn't see beyond personal consumer devices.

        1. asdf

          Re: Poor bastard

          >someone who couldn't see beyond personal consumer devices.

          Check the margins and check the market caps of both companies. Ideally you want to have both markets but enterprise generally are smart enough to not pay extra for bling and status.

  2. Mikel
    Paris Hilton

    Office for iPad

    How about no? A new WinRT tablet maybe?

    I'm thinking a Metro skin for iPad that keys into all of Microsoft's cloud suite. Office364 and Bing, IE and Outlook.com signin, XBox Live, DirectX and cloud hosted desktop all integrated into one glorious app that iFans have been craving [sic]. Naturally paid for to be preinstalled in glorious partnership with Apple.

    The synergies. They are blinding.

  3. Tromos

    "...taking Microsoft wherever users want to go..."

    That would be best achieved by announcing the imminent release of XP2.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: "...taking Microsoft wherever users want to go..."

      There's already - it's called "7" - if you never noticed it. Just you can't crack it as easily as XP...

      1. Anonymous Bullard

        Re: "...taking Microsoft wherever users want to go..."

        "Just you can't crack it as easily as XP..."

        People still crack Windows??

        You need to find some other mates.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: "...taking Microsoft wherever users want to go..."

          Yes, people does. Only 1.46% of desktop users are Linux ones, and there are good chances they are also running an illegal XP in some VM... and it looks in China alone there are over hundreds of millions of cracked Windows installations (XP, mostly)

          1. asdf

            Re: "...taking Microsoft wherever users want to go..."

            > Only 1.46% of desktop users are Linux ones, and there are good chances they are also running an illegal XP in some VM.

            Guess I am one of those 1.46 percent except I only run a semi illegal Mac OS VM on my Linux Mac box (actually have a license for it but Apple licensing technically doesn't allow Mac OS X desktop in a VM I believe). Wine has gotten good enough for most people so that a windows vm is a total waste of time.

  4. Flywheel

    Good idea, but ..

    Can they *PLEASE* make it less battery-draining than OWA for the iPad??? It's nice to keep in touch but not at the expense of having to find mains power halfway through the day!

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Good idea, but ..

      OWA is a web application - you should blame Safari for draining so much battery.

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    If it is a full native iOS application is not a small announcement.

    If Office is a full native local iOS application with almost all the features of the Windows counterpart, it's not a small announcement. If it's just a wrapper over the online services it is.

    If they found Office alone was not enough to get user into Surfaces, why don't make money from Apple users? Apple could welcome that move as well, because it could impact Android tablet sales.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: If it is a full native iOS application is not a small announcement.

      "If Office is a full native local iOS application with almost all the features of the Windows counterpart, it's not a small announcement."

      It won't be, I doubt they could do it either.

  6. Tony Paulazzo

    So, they're going to sell it for £15? Although, if it's gonna be as good as their MS Notes for ipad, they seriously shouldn't even bother. Quickoffice for ipad (now owned by Google), can open, edit and style retain all the latest MS Office formats (Word, Excel & Presentation), ten bucks - been using it for years, I don't need Office (tho' I suppose Outlook would be quite nice - but even there, the ipad email and calender utilities work as well as I need it).

    I suppose it's going to be for companies who don't mind paying over the odds for ease of use.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      You buy a $700 tablet and then have issue to pay for an Office suite? C'mon...

  7. TheOtherHobbes

    Office on a device with a (relatively) tiny screen and a toy keyboard?

    How about 'Who cares?'

  8. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    touchscreen keyboard

    I hope Nadella will also provide a free keyboard to come with every Office for iPad.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: touchscreen keyboard

      Why free? You buy expensive stuff, c'mon, you can pay for a keyboard, can't you? Or you already spent all of your parents' pocket money to buy your iPad?

      1. asdf

        Re: touchscreen keyboard

        Still butthurt that Microsoft couldn't get in on that bling gravy train huh? Must suck only being able to sell your gadgets to employees.

  9. Silver

    Do iPad users need Office?

    Given that it's been 4 years since the iPad launched, I would think that the bigger worry for Microsoft is how many people have come to the conclusion in those 4 years that they can actually get along just fine without having Office.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Do iPad users need Office?

      Or maybe the could discover they could do more than watching cat videos and update the Facebook status...

      1. Silver
        Joke

        Re: Do iPad users need Office?

        Or maybe the could discover they could do more than watching cat videos and update the Facebook status...

        Of all the things I wish I could do more with an iPad, I have to admit that editing Excel spreadsheets isn't one of them.

        But if that's what floats your boat, who am I to judge? :)

      2. asdf

        Re: Do iPad users need Office?

        >Or maybe the could discover they could do more than watching cat videos and update the Facebook status...

        More butthurt. The market is too stupid to understand Microsoft products and how they fit into Microsoft's corporate strategy huh? Must be the markets fault.

    2. D@v3

      Re: Do iPad users need Office?

      very good point.

      And in that time, any that do 'need' Office, will have found an alternative, as there seem to be many available

  10. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I'm not optimistic about Mr Nadella being in charge of Microsoft

    Given his prior experience at Microsoft, I think future versions of Windows will be further integrated with the Cloud, Skydrive, Microsoft account, Bing desktop search, the Microsoft app store. More software products will follow a subscription model.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: I'm not optimistic about Mr Nadella being in charge of Microsoft

      So they will look more like Apple software?

      1. asdf

        Re: I'm not optimistic about Mr Nadella being in charge of Microsoft

        >>More software products will follow a subscription model.

        >So they will look more like Apple software?

        Didn't Apple give their last OS away for free basically? Apple loses money on their software (loss leader to sell the high margin hardware). The difference is Microsoft hardware is even bigger loss leader (joke as well) than Apple software with little chance to recoup the cost.

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