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Microsoft Office Now Available On All Chromebooks (theverge.com) 113

Posted by BeauHD from the come-and-get-it dept.
Microsoft has reportedly finished testing out its Office apps on Chromebooks as a number of Chromebooks are now seeing the Office apps in the Google Play Store. Samsung's Chromebook Pro, Acer's Chromebook 15, and Acer's C771 have the Office apps available for download. The Verge reports: The apps are Android versions of Office which include the same features you'd find on an Android tablet running Office. Devices like Asus' Chromebook Flip (with a 10.1-inch display) will get free access to Office on Chrome OS, but larger devices will need a subscription. Microsoft has a rule across Windows, iOS, and Android hardware that means devices larger than 10.1 inches need an Office 365 subscription to unlock the ability to create, edit, or print documents.
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Microsoft Office Now Available On All Chromebooks More

Microsoft Office Now Available On All Chromebooks

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  • IT'S A TRAP! (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward

    Don't trust the soft-spoken Nadella. Microsoft is still into sucking your soul and leaving your empty shell by the wayside. They haven't changed.

    Free my ass. It's as free as the first heroine fix at your nice local dealer.

    • With M$ IT'S always a trap (Score:1)

      by Anonymous Coward

      20 years ago $lashdot was a site with a consensus that knew the evil acts being performed by M$ to hold onto their illegal monopoly. Their tactic? Embrace, extend, extinguish. M$ started using astroturfers to infiltrate $lashdot. When Google was just starting to get huge and handing M$ their asses to them Sweaty B then threw a chair at someone that defected to Google and declared 'I'm going to fucking kill Google". Today M$ is using said tactics against GNU/Linux and, by extension, Android. M$ knows t

      • Re:With M$ IT'S always a trap (Score:4, Interesting)

        by volodymyrbiryuk ( 4780959 ) on Tuesday November 28, 2017 @07:14AM (#55635625)
        M$ is scared shitless of Google so they try to regain some ground in the office department, cause Chromebook users started using Google Docs more. They won't become a monopoly again because they are a de-facto monopoly for office applications but hopefully this will change in the future.

        • Re:With M$ IT'S always a trap (Score:4, Interesting)

          by kurkosdr ( 2378710 ) on Tuesday November 28, 2017 @08:40AM (#55635875)
          While Google Docs can't hold a candle to MS Office (it cannot do something as basic as auto page numbering in a table of contents), Microsoft wants to cover their bases, and particularly those people who need very basic Office formatting capabilites. Microsoft is afraid that Google Docs will become an acceptable "baseline". Would go as far as saying "scared shitless" though. MS Office's bread and butter, aka universities and businesses, are not threatened. The sheer number of templates available makes a big lock-in.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by hajile ( 2457040 )
          There's some truth here. You stick with what you know. 60 something percent of students are using Chromebooks. If MS wants them to use Office later, they have to make sure it's available as soon as possible.

        • M$ is scared shitless of Google

          I don't see why. M$ is a software company.

    • Comment removed (Score:4, Interesting)

      by account_deleted ( 4530225 ) on Tuesday November 28, 2017 @06:35AM (#55635549)
      Comment removed based on user account deletion

      • Re: IT'S A TRAP! (Score:5, Interesting)

        by gravewax ( 4772409 ) on Tuesday November 28, 2017 @06:44AM (#55635571)
        That is hardly proof of anything, they develop for platforms based on popularity. Desktop Linux is a fraction of the audience of any of the OS's they support and of those on Linux that use it as a desktop only a fraction of those would be willing to pay for an office product. support for a distro has to make sense and I doubt the support cost for Ubuntu or Mint would make financial sense.
      • What is the actual market share percentage of each of those "common Linux distros" actually? Please keep in mind that support-wise, each "distro" has to be treated as its own platform. Microsoft doesn't want to spend money to develop for and support a less-than-1% platform. Let's be honest, not even FOSS projects support Linux distros properly. Ubuntu 14.04 still has VLC 2.1.6 for download in the software store while my old Windows 7 netbook runs latest 2.2.6.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by tepples ( 727027 )

          Ubuntu 14.04 still has VLC 2.1.6 for download in the software store

          Ubuntu 14.04 LTS is a fairly old long-term supported version of the operating system and includes fairly old long-term supported versions of applications. An application's publisher is free to set up a PPA for a previous LTS.

      • Notice that MS came up with ports for iOS, Android (Linux based) and even OS X / MacOS (Unix based). Yet they canâ(TM)t manage to put it out for common Linux distro such as Ubuntu or Mint? And thatâ(TM)s despite building a linux subsystem for windows and claiming to âwant to play wellâ(TM)? Such crap.. MS hasnâ(TM)t changed itâ(TM)s ways

        Too many distros and not enough marketshare on the desktop.

    • Microsoft is not special, this is how every corporate behaves, this is what they are supposed to do in capitalism, this is we have to restrict them.

  • And if so, why shouldn't I use the website in the first place? Offline abilities?

  • Why? (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Gravis Zero ( 934156 ) on Tuesday November 28, 2017 @05:54AM (#55635493)

    Serious question: why would you want to use MS Office Lite for a fee when Google Docs and LibreOffice ownCloud are free? Maybe it's just me but I think the people who are buying Chromebooks aren't looking to throw away money on software.

    • Re:Why? (Score:5, Informative)

      by karmawarrior ( 311177 ) on Tuesday November 28, 2017 @06:04AM (#55635513) Journal

      I'm using Microsoft Word for my resume as most employers still need documents in .docx format, and I am seeing very real formatting issues when converting Google Docs documents to .docx.

      I was hoping to use Google Docs for the entire thing, I used a Google Docs off-the-shelf template to build my resume and after filling everything in found two major issues:

      1. It wouldn't print the bullets (WTF?).
      2. When I exported it to Word, there were major issues with the settings for the tables. Margins were screwy. Horizontal lines that were part of the template were now inconsistent. Rows all started on new pages.

      I really want to use Docs for this kind of thing, and if I ran my own multi-employee company I'd be seriously tempted to go full-on Google Apps for everything, but unfortunately I'm at the mercy of the standards everyone else has set. Hopefully long term other options will become more practical.

      • Re: (Score:1)

        by ls671 ( 1122017 )

        Dude, did you inherit that low UID from your father or something? Mine is much higher and I haven't written a MS-Word resume by myself for quite a while. Worse case, I paste the text version into open office and let them edit it if amuses them.

      • So I notice you ignored the existence of LibreOffice ownCloud, is there some reason for that?

        • I tried LibreOffice too. Word (Word Starter Edition FWIW, you can run it under Windows 10 with the right patches) was my last choice because the f---ing ribbon makes it almost unusable, but it was the only way to produce a Word document with anything other than trivial formatting that appears correctly in Word. Indeed I didn't even try Office Online because I've had problems in that seeing tables correctly formatted.

          I assume LibreOffice ownCloud is as compatible with word as desktop LibreOffice. Loading

        • So I notice you ignored the existence of LibreOffice ownCloud, is there some reason for that?

          I had never heard of LibreOffice ownCloud. A web search produced a first result that isn't responding [google.com]. (I checked on isup.me and the site appears to be down.)

          The following is conjecture based on what little I know about ownCloud from other sources: In order to evaluate it, I would need to do one of two things, neither of which is without charge. One is purchase a server on which to run ownCloud and upgrade my home Internet to business class in order to have a static IP, avoid blocks of inbound ports 80 and

      • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

        by Bert64 ( 520050 )

        Most employers don't care what format your resume comes in so long as they can open it... Most employers will be able to open PDF, and you have a much lower risk of formatting errors if you use PDF. I write my resume in latex and export to pdf, never had a problem.

        • Re:Why? (Score:4, Insightful)

          by thegarbz ( 1787294 ) on Tuesday November 28, 2017 @09:58AM (#55636181)

          Most employers don't care what format your resume comes in so long as their automated web application process approves the file type

          FTFY. You're assuming a certain level of human common sense when in fact what you're doing is arguing semantics with a machine, or worse still a HR person.

        • Re: (Score:1)

          by btroy ( 4122663 )
          PDF's are often blocked by systems. Plus they frequently specify doc/docx so they're automated scanning systems can work.

      • Re:Why? (Score:5, Interesting)

        by AmiMoJo ( 196126 ) on Tuesday November 28, 2017 @08:11AM (#55635771) Homepage Journal

        I always send my CV in PDF form. As well as almost always displaying correctly on a variety of systems, it prevents information leakage. Last thing you want is for the prospective employer to hit ctrl-Z a few times and see what edits you made.

        The only people who have demanded Word documents have been recruiters. If they do, run. The only reasons they want the Word document are so that they can copy/paste the contents into a portfolio more easily, or so that they can edit it themselves.

        • I always send my CV in PDF form. As well as almost always displaying correctly on a variety of systems, it prevents information leakage. Last thing you want is for the prospective employer to hit ctrl-Z a few times and see what edits you made.

          I'd prefer PDF but you'd be surprised how many US employers actually reject it. UK may be different.

          The only people who have demanded Word documents have been recruiters. If they do, run. The only reasons they want the Word document are so that they can copy/paste t

        • I always send my CV in PDF form... The only people who have demanded Word documents have been recruiters.

          I generally send my resume in PDF, and as someone who receives resumes, I'd encourage people to do the same. However, one of the things I've learned from being on both sides of the interview process is, everyone does things differently. I have seen employers who demands Word documents, or plain-text, or HTML in the body of the email that you're sending. Maybe they're just quirky, or maybe they have a system that automatically parses the text and that system handles some formats better than others.

          I've

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

            Sending a PDF is a good sanity check for the company. If the hiring manager can't understand why you wouldn't send a .docx, or company policy requires Word documents, you know that you don't want to work there anyway and they saved you some hassle.

            • That's easy enough to say. Everyone on the Internet is always so quick to advocate quitting your job and disregarding job opportunities, but some people in this world actually need to work. I'm not sure everyone can afford to be so dismissive of a company because one hiring manager has odd or overly specific expectations. Also, I've had plenty of experience sorting through resumes, and there's a point at which you have to disqualify some resumes for fairly arbitrary reasons. When you have a few hours to

          • Re: (Score:3)

            by PPH ( 736903 )

            "Send your resume in Word format."

            Which version?

        • I always send my CV in PDF form. As well as almost always displaying correctly on a variety of systems, it prevents information leakage. Last thing you want is for the prospective employer to hit ctrl-Z a few times and see what edits you made.

          No version of Microsoft Word has ever stored your edit history in such a way that you can load up a document and start mashing ctrl-z to see earlier edits.

          If you accidentally turn on "track changes" then ctrl-z still wouldn't work - but you would be sharing a marked up

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by jon3k ( 691256 )

        I'm using Microsoft Word for my resume as most employers still need documents in .docx format, and I am seeing very real formatting issues when converting Google Docs documents to .docx.

        I think I speak for every employer in the world when I say: please, save it as a PDF.

      • LibreOffice saves in .pdf as well as .doc/.docx/.odf. Most employers don't mine a resume in .pdf format, and it's virtually guaranteed to display/format correctly.

      • Hopefully long term other options will become more practical.

        I use LibreOffice in our Microsoft Office dominated workplace, and I have had zero problems reading and writing coworkers' files.

      • ...as most employers still need documents in .docx format....

        I haven't had any employer require a Word formatted resume since 1999. While some allow it, all of them say that PDF is preferred.

    • It could be a way to provide cheap(ish) laptops to administrative staff at your company. Everyone else gets a proper laptop, but the receptionist and a few others get chromebooks.

      The problem I've found (being at a windows-mostly, but macs for some people company) is that the mac version of O365 works well enough, but there are a few wrinkles which obviously Apple won't do anything about. Talking to Microsoft seems as much use as talking to yourself a lot of the time, and so there are apparently no solutions

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by DogDude ( 805747 )
      Because you care about privacy, maybe?

      • Microsoft and Google have the same views on privacy which is "privacy is dead". If you want privacy then you would use the LibreOffice ownCloud port because it won't rat you out.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by DogDude ( 805747 )
          Microsoft and Google have the same views on privacy which is "privacy is dead".

          That's not true. You don't need a Microsoft ID to use Windows Phone 10 or MS Office.

    • but I think the people who are buying Chromebooks aren't looking to throw away money on software.

      By throwing money away you're realising you're talking about the cost of a large cup of coffee once a month on an entire office suite right?

      Chromebooks aren't just for poor people, and when people are happily spending $100/mth on cable, an additional $8 to get an office suite that is compatible with the formats used in general throughout the world isn't going to break the bank.

    • For a fee? My Android tablets are all 10.1" or smaller. I am not that keen on the 'latest-greatest' Android tablet hardware market, but the predominant number of Android tablets are 10.1" or smaller.

      And in spite of the screeching you will hear from Ipad owners and other Apple partisans, there are quite a range of really GOOD Android tablets on the market. The Asus Zenpads are fairly awesome, for example.

      • For a fee? My Android tablets are all 10.1" or smaller.

        that's nice but most chromebooks have a 13" screen. so yes, for a fee.

  • No (Score:2)

    by Ayano ( 4882157 )
    Nice try MS.
  • First they ignored it.

    Then they laughed at it,

    Then they fought it.

    Then it won.

  • Please please please, Is there a way to make MSOffice think my 14 inch 1920x1080 screen chromebook 10.1 inch 1920x1080 screen machine?

    On second thoughts, scratch that. I don't need no MS-Office polluting my pristine chromebook.

  • And nothing of value was gained...

  • "Microsoft has a rule across Windows, iOS, and Android hardware that means devices larger than 10.1 inches need an Office 365 subscription to unlock the ability to create, edit, or print documents"

    So if I have a 9" tablet does it suddenly lock up when I use Chromecast w/ Bluetooth mouse/keyboard?

  • Microsoft Office Now Available On All Chromebooks

    And in other excellent news, my dog has announced that its feces will be available from time to time on neighbours' lawns.

  • .."available on all chromebooks" bullshit (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward

    .. it's only available if you pay the fucking microsoft tax you were trying to avoid in the first place by buying a chromebook.....

    and this ain't no 99c app. it's 7.99... *a month*.... for a stripped down, slow, buggy, poke-the-finger version of office.

  • My experience. Yes, my kids use Google Docs/present/etc. in grade and high school.

    As soon as they move into College, MS Office is a must. Suddenly, the Chromebook/Linux Box ceased to be as useful as there are formatting issues galore when converting to PowerPoint and Word. Though I did find the latest version of Libreoffice has improved, but still not perfect.

    • Having taken some undergrad classes recently, LibreOffice works fine, even for scientific writing.

      Note that the school actually offers Office 365, but since I run a Linux desktop primarily, I haven't been bothered to install it in a Windows VM. (I can get email via secure IMAP to the hosted Exchange.)

  • How does it determine screen size? Seems like this would be something fairly easy to spoof to "unlock" full functionality on devices with bigger screens.
  • Hmmm, even my *brand new* Chromebooks are too old to run Android apps without "migrating user profile data to Android N's new filesystem." Not sure I have time to engage that particular tar-baby... https://support.google.com/chr... [google.com]

  • Misleading headline... (Score:5, Informative)

    by Schnapple ( 262314 ) <tomkidd@gmail . c om> on Tuesday November 28, 2017 @10:59AM (#55636487) Homepage
    ...though not really Slashdot's fault as they're just passing the message along.

    Microsoft Office is available on all Chromebooks that support running the Google Play Store and whatever Android apps it has in it

    If you have a Chromebook not on the supported list and/or running the wrong kind of processor (though mostly just old Chromebooks) then you can't run the Google Play Store and therefore you can't run Office in the manner described here.

    What the article was really trying to say is that for some period of time only selected Chromebooks that ran the Google Play Store could run it, artificially limited due to testing purposes. That's done now. But if you're like me and you still have some ancient Acer Chromebook you're not getting it. I know, I tried last night thinking this was an "app" in the way that most ChromeOS "apps" are (i.e., just web pages pretending to be apps)

  • IBM used to be a byword for proprietary lock in. Then PC clones took over and IBM's attempt at moving people from them to PS/2s, MCA and OS/2 failed.

    And then IBM changed to be a proponent of open systems, The Cloud and so on.

    Of course The Cloud gives another kind of lock in because the company that controls your cloud accounts controls all your data. For a long time Google kept people from noticing this because your Gmail data limit grew with time. Now it's stopped growing and because people don't delete th

  • Oh, what a shocker, an unnecessary cross-platforming decision that no one actually cared about in the long run. I mean, what's wrong with google docs? yet everyone seems to focus on how it's done. https://droidinformer.org/Stor... [droidinformer.org] I probably sound like an asshole but this tricky strategy of no development is annoying as hell.

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