Microsoft Office Pro Plus 2007 Office for the iPad

Microsoft execs have been regularly noncommittal when asked whether they'll introduce a edition of Office for your iPad,Microsoft Office Pro Plus 2007, Android tablets and phones, and many different other units.
I’d bet there are internal wars of words (and more) inside Redmond’s hallowed halls as to regardless of whether doing so would hurt or help more, in terms of boosting Microsoft’s bottom line and its customer base. I also wouldn’t be surprised in the least if skunkworks teams inside Microsoft already are working on at least a few of these variants.
But if and until the Softies decide to deliver Workplace on new platforms and products, the “best” way to get Office on more than just your Windows PC or Mac is via Office Web Apps.
Office Web Apps is the Webified versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote that is designed to complement Workplace on Windows PCs and Workplace for Mac 2011. There are three versions of Workplace Web Apps — a free, ad-supported edition that users can access via SkyDrive and Hotmail; and two paid versions (one run by customers on-premises and one hosted by Microsoft) that require SharePoint 2010 to work. Workplace Web Apps are cross-platform, as Microsoft execs often say. But they only work on a subset of phones/PCs. And only a subset of the functionality works on various platforms.
If you want to use the free version of Office Web Apps on your PC/laptop/desktop,Office 2007 License, you currently need one of the following:
IE7 and greater on Windows
Safari 4 and greater on Mac OS
Firefox 3.5 and greater on Windows, Mac OS and Linux
Google Chrome 3 and greater on Windows
On your phone, the choices are much more limited if you want to use the free edition. There, Workplace Web Apps works with:
Safari 4 on iPhone 3G and 3GS
Internet Explorer 7 on the upcoming Windows Phone 7
If you want to use the paid versions of Office Web Apps on your PC/laptop/desktop, you need one of these:
IE7 and greater on Windows
Safari 4 and greater on Mac OS
Firefox 3.5 and greater on Windows, Mac OS and Linux
On your phone, you have more choices if you want to use the paid Office Web Apps variants. You need one of the following:
Internet Explorer on Windows Mobile 5/6/6.1/6.5 (not needed on Windows Phone 7, since the built-in Office Hub will provide Workplace — and later, BPOS, access)
Safari 4 on iPhone 3G and 3GS
BlackBerry 4.x and later
Nokia S60
NetFront 3.4, 3.5, and later
Opera Mobile 8.65 and later
Openwave 6.2, 7.0 and later
What about the iPad, specifically? Today,Office 2007 Ultimate Key, Today, iPad users can only view Word and PowerPoint files. “We continue to evaluate additional scenarios, including editing and Excel and OneNote support,Windows 7 Download, for that future,” a spokesperson said. Will more functionality be available after Apple updates the iPad OS to iOS 4.2 in November? No word back from Microsoft so far.
Confused? It gets worse.
When Microsoft says Workplace Web Apps “works” on these a variety of platforms running these a number of browser/OS combinations, the word “works” is also not universal. I blogged back in April about some of the omissions from Workplace Web Apps — like the availability of OneNote.
Starting on June 7, 2010, Workplace Web Apps functionality was expanded to include the ability to create, edit, and access Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote Web Apps. Additionally on June 7, OneNote and Excel Web Apps got co-authoring capabilities. There also were printing and charting limitations a few months ago — some of which Microsoft addressed in a set of updates to Office Web Apps in August.
I found a platform comparison chart in an Office Web Apps user guide (which I think may be dated,Office Professional Plus 2007 Key, but I haven’t been able to get a newer version from Microsoft is astoundingly up-to-date!) Here’s a checklist of some of the Office Web Apps capabilities offered across the a variety of versions:
(click on the table to enlarge)
On my iPad, I’ve been using Dropbox to view my Office docs. I was thinking about downloading Documents to Go from DataViz so I could do some light edits to those documents, too, but now that RIM bought DataViz, I’m not so sure about its future on the iPad… I don’t want/need Apple’s Pages, Numbers and Keynote because I am using my iPad for consumption than creation and do almost all my writing/editing on my Windows PC. (I’ll have a post on my first month-plus as an iPad user later this week….)
My conclusion is that for the time being, Workplace Web Apps isn’t likely enough to satisfy users who might want Workplace access on machines and products other than Windows PCs and Macs. The Workplace Web Apps feature set is still a work in progress and the platforms supported incomplete and confusing. At the same time, I am not 100 percent convinced that iPad and non-Microsoft smartphone users really need a full port of Workplace to those platforms, with options like Dropbox, DataViz, etc. available.
Anyone out there see it differently and still hope that Microsoft does port Workplace to something other than Windows PCs or Macs?