
Microsoft’s Biggest Miss - cleverjake
http://minimalmac.com/post/17758177061/microsofts-biggest-miss
======
angersock
The assumption underlying this whole article is that you don't "need" Office
to do work. That somehow iStuff will fill in your missing productivity suite.
This just isn't backed by reality.

In an office setting (I'm not saying enterprise, as that would be asking too
much), you make use of a word processor, a spreadsheet, maybe an email client,
maybe a presentation thing.

Is there honestly any real competition in that field from tablets and iStuff
and the like? No. Those are content-consumption devices, occasionally
branching out into cutesy creation. There's nothing wrong with that, mind you,
but _work_ is done on a desktop, where you need to do a lot of typing and
clicking. The interface is simply better for that.

Moreover, Microsoft Office has pretty much nailed its niche: I challenge you
to find a better office suite. Here's what you'll have to do:

1\. Find me an office suite that works out-of-the-box.

2\. Find me an office suite that does everything (email, database (Access
lol), word processing, spreadsheet, simple programming, presentations) for a
flat fee.

3\. Find me an office suite that does (2) fairly well.

4\. Find me an office suite that does (2) that interops basically seamlessly
across other businesses and old versions of my own business.

There's some nifty stuff on the net as thin clients running in HTML5. There's
some cool stuff happening in tablets. But the author is sorely mistaken in
presuming that the world has somehow moved past Office.

EDIT: And yes, I've tried Google Docs and OpenOffice and WordPerfect and all
these things--but for raw "get the bidness done" Office is pretty much it.

EDIT2: And Word's spellchecker could've saved me. >:(

~~~
kingsidharth
I don't think author means to claim _the world_ has moved on. Early adopters
have, and as the tablet replaces the desk/lap-tops with internet everywhere,
Office will be irrelevant.

1\. Google Docs.

2\. Gmail, Google Docs [Free]

3\. Google Docs

4\. Google Docs can preview / edit. You just need internet.

I haven't used office in ages. I consider myself a fairly early adopter of
technology and yes I've moved on. My mom has not, I don't think she ever will.

It's like mobile phones made wrist watch redundant. But people still wear them
for:

1\. Luxury.

2\. Habit.

~~~
wvenable
I work in the legal field and they will never, ever use Google Docs for
anything. You do not put important documents on another company's computers
and you especially don't do that if they are in the U.S. (They ban dropbox for
the same reason).

~~~
icebraining
I wonder if they've consider developing a Google Apps appliance, a contained
webserver (physical or virtual) with just a simple API to store and load
documents, email, etc. You'd load the software from 'the cloud', which would
then call the appliance on the LAN to get your stuff.

Seems to satisfy the privacy requirements while keeping the more maintenance
heavy components on their machines.

------
gdharries
This author is blinded by what he actually does for a living: consulting on
Apple products and writing, again, (mostly) on Apple-related topics. When you
step outside of the Apple bubble, you quickly realize that there's a much,
much bigger world out there and Apple is almost nowhere to be seen.

~~~
figglesonrails
That or they have Office:mac like they do over here. :)

------
grantheaslip
People have already given some good reasons why this article is nonsense (or
at least unnecessarily reductionist), but what pissed me off about it the most
is the underlying assumption you see in so many anti-Microsoft articles: that
the only reason anyone uses Microsoft products is because they don’t know any
better.

This is such a juvenile, condescending, and back-patting way to look at
Microsoft, and I’m fucking sick of it. I _prefer_ Windows, I _prefer_ Office,
and I _prefer_ C#, Visual Studio, and ASP.NET MVC. I used a Mac as my primary
computer from 2007-2010, and I used Linux from 2010-2011, and I ended up back
on Windows _by choice_. I used an iPhone, I used Android, and I ended up
Windows Phone _by choice_. I’ve programmed in Ruby (Rails and Sinatra),
Python, JavaScript, Node.js, and am currently writing an app in ASP.NET MVC
_by choice_. I’ve used OpenOffice, I’ve used Google Docs, I’ve used Evernote,
and currently use OneNote, Word, and Excel (backed by SkyDrive) _by choice_.

Implying people using Microsoft stuff are just sheeple who haven’t seen the
light yet is as fucking stupid as claiming that people only use Apple products
because of marketing and design. I have no problem with people using Apple
products, Linux, or anything, I just hate the anti-Microsoft circle jerk that
certain subsets of those communities sustain themselves on.

------
untog
The setup was interesting, but I feel the conclusion was a little flat-
Microsoft's biggest miss was that people found out they were _big fat liars!_?

I'm not sure I buy the central premise, though- I don't know anyone that does
Office-style work on their iPhone, and very few that do on their iPad. I'm not
sure if there is an optimal interface for editing spreadsheets, but an iPad
sure as hell isn't it.

~~~
thoughtsimple
Hard numbers...

On the iPad App Store charts:

Top Paid

3\. Pages

11\. Keynote

13\. Numbers

Top Grossing

3\. Pages

17\. Keynote

18\. Numbers

Those numbers seem to me to imply that a large number of people use office
apps on the iPad.

~~~
untog
I don't doubt that people consume office documents on their iPad, but I'm less
convinced that people sit down and create whole spreadsheets with it. So there
still needs to be _some_ program on a computer somewhere for document
creation.

~~~
revscat
You can consume Office documents natively on iOS - no iWorks required. The
only reason people would be buying these would be to either modify or create
their own documents.

------
ImprovedSilence
Yes, but the examples he uses, the iPhone, and iPad, are not usually used "to
get work done". I think that most of the public sees and uses those devices as
a consumption device. When it comes to creating, and "getting work done" so to
speak, people will still pine for Office. (I say this, but as a happy Linux
and mac user whom infrequency uses office, sometimes I do find myself booting
the ole desktop into windows, to make sure everything looks good and is
formatted properly in Office) That's for personal stuff though, in the biz
world, I still see Office staying on top for quite some time.

~~~
thoughtsimple
People keep repeating this but I see no evidence for it being true. Instead I
keep reading reports of companies replacing large numbers of laptops with
iPads. Are those reports wrong? Are those companies supplying iPads so their
employees can watch (consume) movies instead of working?

The iPad seems quite capable of handling moderate document creation. Add a BT
keyboard and it becomes very similar to a low end laptop.

~~~
recoiledsnake
> Instead I keep reading reports of companies replacing large numbers of
> laptops with iPads. Are those reports wrong?

Care to link to some of these reports? I am curious to see if desktop/laptops
are being replaced and if there are companies employees in the office with a
tablet as their only work device.

What I find is that companies are buying tablets as additional devices to
augment, not replace desktops and laptops. Thus I am very curious about the
reports you have apparently been seeing.

Side question: Does anyone on HN know anyone in their company or friends
circle whose sole work device is a tablet(traveling salesmen etc. are
excluded) ?

>The iPad seems quite capable of handling moderate document creation. Add a BT
keyboard and it becomes very similar to a low end laptop.

And you can make an octopus by nailing more legs to a dog. Doesn't make it a
very good octopus though.

~~~
thoughtsimple
A quick google search reveals:

[http://www.telegraphindia.com/external/display.jsp?mode=deta...](http://www.telegraphindia.com/external/display.jsp?mode=details&id=29753)
[http://www.mactrast.com/2012/01/more-than-1-in-10-ipad-
owner...](http://www.mactrast.com/2012/01/more-than-1-in-10-ipad-owners-in-
the-enterprise-no-longer-use-their-laptop/)

Both referencing the same IDG report.

[http://tabtimes.com/news/ittech-stats-
research/2012/02/17/on...](http://tabtimes.com/news/ittech-stats-
research/2012/02/17/one-four-european-doctors-own-ipad-and-25-use-it-work)

Apparently Doctors are replacing laptops with iPads.

[http://brainerddispatch.com/news/2012-02-09/cass-county-
boar...](http://brainerddispatch.com/news/2012-02-09/cass-county-boards-ipads-
will-save-paper)

County board replaced aging laptops.

Apple itself keeps saying that Fortune 500 companies are buying large
quantities of iPads. They can't all be for consumption.

~~~
eitally
"Apple itself keeps saying that Fortune 500 companies are buying large
quantities of iPads. They can't all be for consumption."

Not all, but you might be surprised at how low the ratio of creators to
consumers is in more large enterprises.

------
voxmatt
I own multiple copies of office and use them every day, but the author has an
interesting point. And that point isn't revealed through me, or even
(probably) the person reading this comment, it's revealed through my mother.

My mom is an attorney and works with office every day. She's also in her 50s
and not technologically fluent. But she got an iPhone. And then she got an
iPad. She even got a keyboard for the iPad; which I rolled my eyes at, but
that's where some of us are blind here. One of the first things she asked me
was where office was--there is no doubt she would have purchased office had it
been available--instead she downloaded a bunch of things (pages, docstogo,
QuickOffice) and worked out which of those she likes. And she uses them a ton
now; even to create documents.

Where I think the author is a bit off is in his assessment that the wizard has
been revealed. I think Office is a good product for a lot of people and I
think my mom would still buy it if they rolled one out for iOS (and I think
they're working on it). Moreover, most corporate offices are deeply entrenched
in office, and it will take years for that to change (my machine at work still
comes with ie 7--how sick is that?). So, Microsoft still has time, but I think
there's merit to the argument that they're behind and need to recover. Some
damage has already been done, but it's not too late.

~~~
MatthewPhillips
What the article overlooks is that the money Microsoft makes off selling
individual copies of Office is a rounding error in their overall revenue. The
money they make off selling thousand-seat licenses of Office, however, is not.
The latter is not possible on iOS or Android.

~~~
voxmatt
I think you're absolutely right, but this falls in the category of a lot of
the comments in this thread: the "for now" category. I think anyone who
assumes that the iPad or something-like-the-iPad (Windows 8, if you like)
isn't where the vast majority of the market is heading, is going to miss the
boat. The history of business is filed with the tombstones of once profitable
companies that missed the boat.

~~~
MatthewPhillips
If Microsoft misses the boat it's not going to be because they didn't spend
development time on unprofitable products like single-license Office for iPad.
The winners of any movement are those who own the platform, Microsoft is
correctly focusing their efforts there. The other option is to focus on
software and become the next Atari.

------
freehunter
_Then, she explained, the iPhone came. There was no Office. People got things
done. Then the iPad came. There was no Office. People got things done. Android
came. People got things done. All of those things that they, just a couple of
years ago, were convinced they needed Office to do. They got them done without
it. And thus, the truth was revealed._

Bollocks. Completely. Comparing people "getting things done" in Office to
"getting things done" on their iPhone is ridiculous and I now refuse to
further hear any opinion the author has.

------
Wuxab
They're getting along with out office on their phones and tablets... That's
completely different. You can't just tell clients they don't need it. When
someone sends me an excel spreadsheet riddled with VBA code, what else is
going to open it. I don't like it but I am one of those people that needs it
in order to work with others. Unless the author is saying people are now doing
all their work on phones and tablets, some how I doubt it...

------
johnohara
I read the blog.

The _author's_ biggest miss seems to be the realization that the range of
computational devices and their application is growing exponentially and that
Microsoft doesn't necessarily need to be in every game.

The iPhone and iPad are examples of computational expansion not necessarily a
complete paradigm shift.

Besides, some of the stuff MS has shipped in the past few years (Win7,
Office20##, WinPhone, etc.) seems to run pretty well. They might not be quite
so bleeding edge anymore but it sure looks like a bunch of people are working
hard on their products.

~~~
shareme
Somewhat wrong, there exists right a segment of folks whose only computer is
either a smartphone or tablet.

By 2015 that will be bigger than the total world-wide amount of PCs..its a
market MS needs to be in PERIOD!

Biggest miss would be having SB as CEO..

~~~
cooldeal
>Somewhat wrong, there exists right a segment of folks whose only computer is
either a smartphone or tablet

Who are these people? And no, tweens and non working folks don't count, they
wouldn't buy Office apps for their iPad or iPhone anyway.

~~~
cryptoz
> Who are these people?

The vast majority of the developing world. Many countries have never had wired
internet but have 3G popping up _everywhere_. Hundreds of millions of people
that have never owned and never will own a "desktop computer" are going to get
smartphones by 2015.

Try to remember that the USA is less than 5% of the world's population. Most
people don't have a desktop computer and never will. They're starting on
smartphones now and as tablets become cheaper they will get those too.

------
bstar77
I give people a little more credit than this article does... I don't think
people felt that MS Office is the only way to get work done, rather it's the
only way they want to know how to get work done.

For most people, it's a huge personal investment to learn something like
excel/ppt/word. For many years, the value in learning something new just
wasn't there (IE: I still can't drive stick cause I don't need to).

But now with the mobile revolution, people are open to a new software
investment because of all the great things tablets and smartphones offer. In
the process of using these devices, they are open to learning new things and
then ultimately come to the revelation the author is talking about.

I'm not sure what MS could have done, but slapping Office on Android & iOS
devices from the start would have helped. There's a reason google has hugely
popular software in iOS, despite owning Android. I just think MS is too
arrogant to go that route.

~~~
drzaiusapelord
I've used all the popular office suites for mobile and they're all terrible.
That's the elephant in the room here, not this Apple fanatic's extremely
biased take on things.

When you've got so little horsepower there's only so much you can do. I can't
imagine being able to provide feature parity and a usable interface for end
users on a mobile device, not until these things get a lot more powerful. I
constantly see end users struggling with these features which they need to do
their jobs. I'm not sure if giving them a watered down experience is the big
benefit this author things it is. They'll go crazy when they are told that
track changes isn't supported or VB script or god knows what else.

I'm not sure if this is MS arrogance or an admission that an office
replacement on your tiny phone isn't possible yet and/or end users aren't
willing to deal with software with 1/100th the features. Didn't apple just do
this with the newest version of Final Cut? Everyone thinks complex software is
the problem, but when we take away the features "no one uses or understands"
suddenly the silent majority comes out the woodwork.

The take away for the cult of apple types is that the silent majority is out
there and dwarfs the walled garden/patent litigious world of Apple. Just
because your sleepy intro to anthropology course at that local state u can
mostly be taken with mobile tools doesn't mean everything can be. Life's
different in the busienss world or when you need to get shit done with minimal
fuss and don't care whether the hipster contigent is standing in line outside
of the Apple store again for yet another disposable toy that does you
absolutely no good.

I know its very satifsying to think you'er part of some revolution and laugh
at the old guard, but I'm not seeing it. I'm seeing niche devices for
residential/entertainment needs and the big "everything that is not mobile
will die by 2011 at the latest" never materialized. This author is one of
these guys, an Apple rapturist, and the rapture is always right around the
corner.

Really HN? This is rated at the top of the site? A disposable "har har MS"
essay by an extremely biased source. Frankly, we can do better.

~~~
MBCook
I think the point is that people have been trained (either by MS or by
themselves) that they need Office to get something done.

The copy of Word on my mother's computer was recently corrupted somehow.
Printing didn't work, and if you tried Word became non-functional until you
wiped out all stored preferences.

She didn't know what to do. She just wanted to type up recipes, little notes
to friends, etc. My brother showed her TextEdit and she had what she needed.
She is used to Word. When you need to type on the computer, you use Word.

But it's not like back when she was using her dissertation. I wouldn't expect
people to type a dissertation in TextEdit. But when all you need is to type up
little rich text documents, TextEdit works great.

I think there are a lot of people like that. They've been trained on Word and
think they _need_ word. Far a large number, there is tons of other software
that can accomplish what they want.

What I got out of the article was the author's realization that because MS
didn't have Office ready, people were forced to make due. They had to use
Pages or Keynote. Or maybe they just used email directly. But some of those
users learned that they don't really need Word... and that could be a
dangerous trend for MS.

There are always people who need the features of Word, or some of the really
advanced stuff in Excel.

But most users just type up text in Word and add a little formatting. Most
users use Excel as a grid, sometimes putting a formula or two in. Powerpoint
is used to write text, put up images, and animate a bit.

All those use cases can be easily replaced with other, simpler, software. Now
that some users know that, they might stop buying Office.

------
twerquie
The author claims MS failed to "take seriously" the iPad, but that's simply
not true. He must be confusing them with Blackberry (RIMshot!). MS created
Office 365, a completely web-based build of Office that is surprisingly
standards-compliant and cross-platform. Furthermore they are planning to
release a native build of Office for the iPad in 2012. I'm not sure how much
more you can ask from them, especially considering (as others have noted) that
these devices are designed for _consuming content_ , not creating it.

I work with people who use Excel 8 hours a day, 5 days a week. There is no
competitor to that product. Google Docs doesn't even scratch the surface. And,
as much as I hate Word and think it's a poor authoring tool as well as a poor
document layout tool, most people want one app that is a mix of both. For
them, there is no competitor to Word.

Welcome to the real world!

~~~
gruseom
_I work with people who use Excel 8 hours a day, 5 days a week. There is no
competitor to that product. Google Docs doesn't even scratch the surface._

In your experience, what are the most important things that Excel does that no
one else does (or does well)?

~~~
twerquie
Pivot tables (though I believe Google Docs has added this to some degree), the
ability to cleanly import messy text data, the ability to select non-
contiguous cells, keyboard short cuts, better charts, spell check. I'm sure
there are a million more - Excel is actually a very impressive product.

------
simonh
Apple has consumer computing all sewn up. MS fans can't understand why.
Microsoft has business computing all sewn up. Apple fans can't understand why.

The asymmetry is that Microsoft seems to think it ought to own consumer
computing as well, and is wasting billions trying to achieve that, while Apple
is playing directly to it's strengths with almost pathological vigour and
knows it's limitations.

As an aside this is why I think MS should have jumped into bed with
Blackberry, not Nokia, on the phone front. Their natural market is corporate
mobile communications, from which they could then attack the consumer market -
actually just as BB did before Apple ran them off the smartphone road.

~~~
uiri
The thing is that nontechnical people want to use the same OS at home and at
work. This is because of the differences between OSes and applications which
trip them up. Microsoft is simply putting up consumer computing as a first
line of defense against competitors trying to attack their hold on business
computing.

Apple's chief weakness is that it doesn't really try to attack business
computing, from what I can tell. That's all fine and dandy - consumer
computing is rather large - but it essentially relegates them to second place
because of Microsoft's dominance in business computing.

------
aggarwalachal
I think, like many others Microsoft did not take iPhone seriously back in
2007. Like everyone else, they also regret the fact that they did not "copy"
the original device.

I think, what Microsoft really missed out on was getting the Metro UI
mainstream earlier on. Not looking at what the Zune team was doing. They
started with the UI innovation back in 2006, but MS just didnt take things
seriously.

Let's see how things are changed with Windows 8

------
padobson
The foolishness of Microsoft significantly messing around with hardware
started with the XBox - their most successful hardware line to date.

I wrote a post about it a month ago:
[http://pdobson.com/post/16681986243/microsoft-should-own-
the...](http://pdobson.com/post/16681986243/microsoft-should-own-the-living-
room-how-google-can)

Their primary mistake in all of their hardware decisions has been making
hardware at all. They will always be a software company that made billions
putting their software on other people's hardware. They should have been
trying to put XBox Live on the PS2, they should have been trying to put Office
on the iPhone, they should have been trying to get Visual Studio working in
Linux.

There should be no XBox, there should be no Windows Phone, and LAMP developers
should be using Visual Studio instead of vim.

Instead they decided if a piece of hardware wasn't running Windows, they had
to build their own hardware and compete in a crowded marketplace instead of
using their dominance to own said markets.

------
duckfruit
I'm not sure how much damage being able to use computers without Microsoft
Office by itself has done to people's perception of Microsoft. I'm more
convinced that having, for the first time since the days of Amigas and
AppleII's, major competing computer platforms has really dislodged the pre-
eminence of the company in popular conception.

------
mattmiller
Apple preemptively cut off the Idevice from office by building the app store
and taking a 30% cut of sales. MS would have been stupid to give away 30% of
its revenue to its biggest competitor, but in hindsight it may have been the
right move.

------
brudgers
> _"To my clients, Microsoft Office was a “must have” no matter how much I
> tried to convince them otherwise. And I tried very hard for a while before
> even I just finally gave up. If a client told me they had to have it I just
> nodded along and told them what to get and where. They were as sure as the
> sun rises that, without Office, they would not be able to work, open
> attachments, write letters, anything. They had to have it."_

The author's wife convinced him, not all those clients...given the different
considerations entailed, I would say that the easier of the two is done.

------
petergast
This article would make sense if Microsoft Office was Microsoft's ONLY
product. But isn't it obvious why they haven't developed serviceable clones of
Office for other platforms? They are selling the platform. Office, more than
any other factor, has driven the market leadership of Windows for two and a
half decades; and Windows in turn has driven the market leadership of Office.
That's the Microsoft catch-22: they can't change anything about this
relationship, because changing even one detail means losing market share.

------
efa
No, I think he was right - "build platform specific and complementary versions
of Office for every device that popped up." People moving to iPads would
likely just install Office since it's what they know and less work learning
something new. Don't really get the wife's big miss - "allowing the world to
finally see the truth behind the big lie — they were not needed to get real
work done." How is that a miss? They missed stopping people from realizing
they don't need Office? Not sure how that would be done.

------
Timmy_C
I keep seeing comments here about whether-or-not consumers are using their
iPhones and iPads to do word processing and spreadsheets. And I think that
argument misses the point that the article was trying to make. I think the
conclusion was that we don't need spreadsheets and word processors at all.
There are a lot of tools out there that help you "get business done" that are
not focused around typing a document or generating a chart. I get business
done by using Freshbooks and Balsamiq Mock-ups.

------
rufius
Owning iPhone/iPad/Android does not imply "getting work done". Work can be
done with or without Microsoft Office and with or without iPhone/iPad/Android.

------
jzoidberg
Google Docs (and Zoho) does collaboration really well. This is important. MS
Office does not even come close.

The article makes a valid point - we do not need bloated desktop software to
produce documents. Some of the people already realized this - the question is
how long it will take for most of the people to realize this.

------
scott7ree
The curtain has finally fallen? You mean the rest of the world has finally
caught up.

Of note, Microsoft Jan 2010 Profit: Windows OS + Windows Server = ~$13B,
Office = ~$8B

Source:
[http://articles.businessinsider.com/2010-02-10/tech/29961217...](http://articles.businessinsider.com/2010-02-10/tech/29961217_1)

------
tbranyen
The arguments are weak, but the message is strong. I use Microsoft to play
Skyrim, the rest of my work is done with open source.

Not everyone can/will take this route, but they've certainly lost me as a
customer for anything other than video games.

------
hiresphere
No way guy! I use OpenOffice religiously and it works for me! The problem is
marketing.....I can't tell you how many people I have to explain OF to.
Everyone only seems to know MS because they marketed better, that's all.

------
dlikhten
I must disagree with everyone. MS's downfall was not the Wizard of OZ style
problem. The problem is investments. You see any good investor will tell you
the same thing: DIVERSIFY YOUR PORTFOLIO. Sure if I invested into google day
1, I'd be rich. If I bought Apple stock when it was $80 a pop, I'd be rich.
Etc. HOWEVER knowing that a-priori is impossible, so you diversify.

If you think Microsoft, what do you think?

> Microsoft Windows

> Microsoft Office

> Internet Explorer

> .Net

Let's tackle them:

Internet Explorer -- Use windows. It only works on windows. If you leave
windows your browser is no longer available. Originally intended to make even
the web work on windows only. Basically Macs were crippled to all hell.
Counters -> Firefox, Safari, Chrome are all cross platform, most people who
use that suffer nothing switching.

.Net -- Its Objective-C for windows. There are more uses for it, yes, like
writing servers as an alternative to java, except they work on windows. End of
the day it serves the same purpose.

Windows -- The flagship product. This is what MS wants you to use, and on your
server, because this makes MS money. The problem is that MS makes zero dollars
from a computer that can run Windows. It makes money on windows. Piracy is a
real problem. If I was to install a pirated windows on a computer, MS is quite
furious for good reasons. Compare that to Apple who will give you a copy of
OSX if you ask them really nicely, and does NOTHING to prevent piracy. The
only thing they care is that it runs on Apple hardware. More later.

Office -- The other flagship product. They convince businesses that sharing
information is only possible with this. Period. As Google Docs, LibreOffice,
Confluence, Basecamp, etc start to become more and more popular, the office
stronghold is being chipped away brick by brick, and MS can't lay bricks fast
enough to counter.

Let's compare that to Apple's model:

iTunes -- Initially shipped with DRM to prevent using anything other than
iPods to play music. By the time they removed DRM it didn't matter, iPods were
here to stay.

App Store -- You can only run the apps on iPhone/iPod/iPad/OSX

OSX -- If it's pirated, who cares, it only runs on Apple hardware.

Garage Band -- Eh, its cheap. Whatever, use it if you like. Its OSX only so
we'll give it practically for free.

Safari -- Runs on windows and mac. They don't care about linux. Just to get
people used to the "mac way"

~~~
NumberFiveAlive
You're completely missing the enterprise side of the equation, which is still
a booming part of MSFTs business right now. And they are still a goliath in
Enterprise (Windows Server, Exchange, SQL Server, etc).

You also speak of their 'downfall' in the past tense, as if it's already
happened. They still push 90% of desktop market share, rule enterprise, rule
the Office suite business, and have some nifty things going on in the
entertainment side (not profitable, but nifty nonetheless).

------
magic_haze
you don't need _anything_ except for your brain to get work done. Everything
else you use is just a luxury, MS office being just one that most people take
for granted these days.

------
recoiledsnake
Can anyone guess how much percentage of spreadsheets, documents etc. are
actually created on smartphones and tablets versus PCs and Macs? I would put
that in the low single digits.

How long does it take and how much does it cost them make a version of Office?
Maybe they already have it in progress. They have been recently releasing apps
for iOS and Android.

Interesting, people have been predicting the end of MS anytime soon since more
than a decade on Slashdot. Meanwhile, they keep getting record profits. This
is nothing but feel good linkbait for the Apple fans to lap up.

Meanwhile, the face that they released OneNote for Android and iOS is totally
lost in the brouhaha.

After all, this is a site where Gruber and Sieger get top billing but Paul
Thurrotts Winsupersite is shadowbanned totally from even appearing on the
site, probably due to sensitive fans' excessive flagging.

If the tables were turned, we would be hearing endlessly about how Microsoft
takes 75% of the web server profits, even if Apache and nginx are ahead in
marketshare.

~~~
archangel_one
Maybe the release of OneNote has been lost, but does anyone really care about
it? I think I had it installed as part of Office the whole time I was at my
previous job but never ever used it for anything. Word and Excel may or may
not be important, but I doubt there can be many people who would ditch Office
completely except for OneNote.

~~~
MortenK
There is actually a huge amount of OneNote users out there. For note taking
apps, it usually comes down to Evernote or OneNote.

~~~
r00fus
And no "textpad/notepad/vim" option? What about simply taking notes in your
email/calendar client so you can add recipients and send/schedule?

I don't know anyone (even in the past 10 years) who's ever mentioned using
OneNote.

~~~
MortenK
Easy there tiger! None of what you mentioned is dedicated note taking apps,
though they of course might be used for the purpose.

The "I don't know anyone who use is so it doesn't exist" argument doesn't
really hold. The only time I've heard of anyone using Vim was 12 years ago.
That was a guy with very long, very dark hair who didn't talk much.

Does this mean Vim is not widely used? Of course not. It just means I don't
work with people using Vim.

Look around the web for OneNote resources, I'm sure you'll find plenty.

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its_so_on
this is okay, except for one thing: the iOS stuff is for playing, and nobody
ever gets anything done. How many angel and VC deals of the past 2-3 involved
an Excel spreadsheet at one point?

Now, how many do you think involved a spreadsheet-type app on android or iOS.

I bet you even the guys who raised a round to build a spreadsheet app (not
thinking of anyone in particular) did so flinging excel sheets back and forth.

Hell, you don't even see apple dogfooding any excel replacements. There just
isn't any dogfood there. Tim Cook uses excel for Mac. And in the evenings,
uses the iPad for entertaintment or light email.

