Monday, October 24, 2005
Clinton Fitch on the State of Today's Microsoft Mobile Office Applications
Posted by Ekkie Tepsupornchai in "ARTICLE" @ 09:30 AM
"When Pocket PCs and Handheld PCs first hit the market in the mid to late 90s, the typical user knew and expected there to be limitations to what could be done... this was also an era in time when laptop computers were rare and extremely costly, cellular phones were still the size of bricks and the Internet was far from encompassing. Fast forward to today. I'm writing this editorial on a laptop that cost me less than $1,000... My cellular coverage with my Audiovox SMT5600 Smartphone is national and I spend less than $100 per month for it, my wife and daughter’s cell phones – combined!... Yet on my Dell x50v, I still have essentially what I had in 1998 when it comes to Office applications."
We've all griped about it at one time or another. The Microsoft Office applications on the Pocket PC are simply poor equivalents of their PC-based counterparts. Clinton suggests that instead of improving or upgrading the Office applications, Microsoft should completely strip them out and rebuild the entire suite from the ground up to make a full-powered Office suite for mobile users. It's an intriguing point, though I personally see some logistical issues involved.
First, while Clinton correctly points out that most of us possess massive external storage space to carry a true Office solution, such a solution would no longer be "out-of-the-box" as it would require the external card plus an install CD just for Office. Second, the effort involved would be nearly equivalent to the PC counterparts... the difference is that Microsoft Office for the PC comes with a major pricetag to help justify the effort. Could such an effort for Windows Mobile devices be a cost-effective solution for Microsoft? Finally, there's the question of required horsepower from today's Windows Mobile devices. Would there be enough for this kind of solution?
Don't get me wrong. I'm all for a better Microsoft Mobile Office suite, I'm just not sold on rebuilding it into a multi-hundred megabyte suite that rivals what we have on our PC (though I may have a different opinion regarding rebuilding Pocket IE). How about all you folks? Give us your thoughts.
We've all griped about it at one time or another. The Microsoft Office applications on the Pocket PC are simply poor equivalents of their PC-based counterparts. Clinton suggests that instead of improving or upgrading the Office applications, Microsoft should completely strip them out and rebuild the entire suite from the ground up to make a full-powered Office suite for mobile users. It's an intriguing point, though I personally see some logistical issues involved.
First, while Clinton correctly points out that most of us possess massive external storage space to carry a true Office solution, such a solution would no longer be "out-of-the-box" as it would require the external card plus an install CD just for Office. Second, the effort involved would be nearly equivalent to the PC counterparts... the difference is that Microsoft Office for the PC comes with a major pricetag to help justify the effort. Could such an effort for Windows Mobile devices be a cost-effective solution for Microsoft? Finally, there's the question of required horsepower from today's Windows Mobile devices. Would there be enough for this kind of solution?
Don't get me wrong. I'm all for a better Microsoft Mobile Office suite, I'm just not sold on rebuilding it into a multi-hundred megabyte suite that rivals what we have on our PC (though I may have a different opinion regarding rebuilding Pocket IE). How about all you folks? Give us your thoughts.
