The Future of Pocket Office

[Steve]

Many are calling for big improvements in Pocket Word and Pocket Excel, but there are several different ways Microsoft could go about doing this. Brighthand's Editor-in-Chief Ed Hardy goes through these options and gives the advantages and disadvantages of each.

Read the editorial at http://www.brighthand.com/article/Fu..._Pocket_Office

[Nate]

Microsoft markets the advantage of the OS and included as being compatible with desktop applications, and quite frankly they are wrong. Except the lowest priced ones, most Palms are more compatible out of the box than PPCs. That hasn't stopped MS from falsely advertising the software advantages of PPCs, and users are bound to notice and get sick of being misled. MS offering a full-featured Word replacement for extra money would only emphasize the fact that Pocket Word is one of the least sophisticated handheld word processors around.

"Software Matters." Yes, it does, and Microsoft should recognize that without a full-featured word processor, they will start losing ground to other PDA makers who include lots more software on their PDAs right from the start, and who offer a much larger library of 3rd party apps for future download.

[Ed Hardy]

If you have run across this thread in the forums, please read the Editorial before you vote. It has a more complete explanation of these options, including listing the advantages and disadvantages of each.

[masitti]

I think MS needed to step up and make PW and PE better. In fact, there was no word of developments for any Word program until almost a year (TextMaker) after PPC2k2 was released... so I am not going to rely to much on 3rd party developers to bring us a decent Word and Excel program.

[ucfgrad93]

I think the OEMs should start bundling other products, like Palm licensees can do.

[bombadil]

Microsoft actually makes very little off each handheld sold -- somewhere in the area of $10, according to some industry sources

Remember, MS only made .25 cents off each copy of DOS installed on the IBM PC, and look what that got them.

But to the point...

The Pocket PC has way too little RAM/ROM to handle a power house like Word. Even in it's early days, the program had an overhead that crashed even the old 386. The main copyrighted component of Word, which belongs to Merriam-Webster by the way, uses more disk/ROM/RAM space than 5 PPC's put together. To have the ability to even remotely maintain some of the bells and whistles of the desktop version would be too much for the PPC. I think anything that MS could do to bring more of these features to the PPC would take up so much space, it would kill the ability to add more software to the device. Also, please note, not all PPC Devices are created equal. Some have 32Mb RAM/ROM, while others have 64 or even 96. Where does the line get drawn.

Excel on the other hand is not all that crippled. Except the lack of pretty graphs and Pie Charts, the basic functionality of Excel transfers well between the two mediums. I have Excel Spreadsheets on the Desktop which sync with the PPC counterparts and there is no loss of functionality, even the bells and whistles, when the PPC version is synched back to the desktop. But to each his own, I guess.

Additionally, there is also the data entry problem with the PPC's. A more robust Word may be okay for those who have keyboards attached to their devices or who can tap at 50 words per minute, but what real value would it be to the average user; REALLY ? I can see where a doc from the DT was copied to the PPC in all it glory MIGHT be handy, but really now; an 8 X 10 document on a 240 x 320 pixel screen is just what I need. Scroll over, scroll down, scroll up. I would probably get seasick or cross eyed trying to keep up. And then there is printing!!!!!! I don't even want to go into that.

Think about it !

My vote is for a 3rd Party Word Processor, at least, that fits the form factor of the PPC device.

[alexp]

Originally posted by ucfgrad93
I think the OEMs should start bundling other products, like Palm licensees can do.

Only problem is, the "other products" are few and far between.

MS is caught between a rock and a hard place:

• the existence of Pocket Office means 3rd party developers have less incentive to write replacements.
• As a result, office-oriented software for PPC has little competition and innovates *MUCH* slower
• OEMs have very comparatively less to choose from when looking for apps to bundle

As a result, I think what will happen, right or not, is that MS will develop a more advanced version of POffice themselves, and offer it at a premium price. They could stand to make a better margin off PPCs, assuming people actually purchase the advanced option.

Of course, MS would also be essentially admitting they misled the public by advertising POffice as feature-packed, as opposed to POS (pun intended). It also means a number of PPC evangelists running around these and other boards would likely find their tales between their legs after having complained about PalmOS devices having to bundled office-oriented apps for so long.

[Mark R Penn]

The Pocket PC has way too little RAM/ROM to handle a power house like Word. Even in it's early days, the program had an overhead that crashed even the old 386. The main copyrighted component of Word, which belongs to Merriam-Webster by the way, uses more disk/ROM/RAM space than 5 PPC's put together. To have the ability to even remotely maintain some of the bells and whistles of the desktop version would be too much for the PPC. I think anything that MS could do to bring more of these features to the PPC would take up so much space, it would kill the ability to add more software to the device. Also, please note, not all PPC Devices are created equal. Some have 32Mb RAM/ROM, while others have 64 or even 96. Where does the line get drawn.

I can see that the code used in desktop Word would be too heavy, but what is it that limits Microsoft to that code? If third party developers can make feature rich office apps that don't criple the PPC (and they can - look at Textmaker), then why can't MS?

I simply don't believe this is a PPC resources issue. It's an issue of willingness - MS hope that the tablet PC is going to be the device of choice for mobile workers who need more than a diary, and so are not developing power user features for the PPC.

A more robust Word may be okay for those who have keyboards attached to their devices or who can tap at 50 words per minute, but what real value would it be to the average user; REALLY ? I can see where a doc from the DT was copied to the PPC in all it glory MIGHT be handy, but really now; an 8 X 10 document on a 240 x 320 pixel screen is just what I need. Scroll over, scroll down, scroll up. I would probably get seasick or cross eyed trying to keep up.

What many "ordinary" users will want to do, and the thing the MS marketing hype suggests is possible now, is to sync a word file, view it/make some changes to it while on the road, and then sync it back to the desktop WITHOUT HAVING IT DESTROYED in the process. I doubt many will want to create fully formatted word docs on the PPC, but they do expect to be able to keep them intact when they create them on the desktop, and then sync.

[Nate]

Originally posted by bombadil
Remember, MS only made .25 cents off each copy of DOS installed on the IBM PC, and look what that got them.

But to the point...

The Pocket PC has way too little RAM/ROM to handle a power house like Word. Even in it's early days, the program had an overhead that crashed even the old 386. The main copyrighted component of Word, which belongs to Merriam-Webster by the way, uses more disk/ROM/RAM space than 5 PPC's put together. To have the ability to even remotely maintain some of the bells and whistles of the desktop version would be too much for the PPC....

Well that's just plain not true. Textamker (from what I understand) manages to do it quite well. And certainly when I was using a Palm device Wordsmith was really a full-featured word processor with excellent Word integration. And I think it only took up about 200k.

Originally posted by bombadil
My vote is for a 3rd Party Word Processor, at least, that fits the form factor of the PPC device.

If a third party can do it, Microsoft can do it and they should do it -- both to make current customers happy and to retain and expand market share. Pocket Word at this point is a marketing gimmick more than a word processor, and it needs to be fixed. They don't need to throw in the entire kitchen sink, but they at the very least do the basics such as retaining and displaying as much formatting as possible, some tables, markers for graphics, complete hierarchechal bullets, etc.

[Fett56]

I think that M$ should offer better software at a premium price, as long as it is really good. Pocket Word is fine for my basic typing, but it really lacks in features. I know the screen is small, but it still would be nice to have imbedded pictures and better formatting.