03-26-2002, 06:45 AM
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Intellectual
Join Date: Feb 2002
Posts: 135
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"Pocket" Office: Why We May Never See a Full-featu
http://www.writingonyourpalm.net/column020325.htm
Jeff is usually really great at picking catchy titles: I don't know what to say about this one. Don't judge a book by its cover, and don't pass over a column because the title is longer than your arm.
"Don't get me wrong, I like Pocket Word. Pocket Office's general interoperability with the desktop version of Office without necessary conversions is one of the things that attracted me to the Pocket PC. And that might be the problem."
"As much as I love my Pocket PC, I'm starting to wonder about Microsoft. I heard some speculation recently that got me thinking about why the Pocket Office apps are missing some of the core features that PalmOS apps like Documents To Go and WordSmith provide, and I don't like where that train of thought is taking me."
I must say that I agree with what Jeff has said. Pocket Office is really great, until it isn't. Pocket Outlook is easily supplemented by Pocket Informant or Agenda Fusion, but as of right now there isn't anything that can enrich our Pocket PC word processing and spreadsheet experiences. Given the main uses of my Jornada, a slightly more feature filled version of Pocket Word coupled with that thought-based-input system that I've had my eye on for a while, would make my Pocket PC writing experience complete.
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03-26-2002, 07:55 AM
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Intellectual
Join Date: Feb 2002
Posts: 226
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If they don't fix that friggin' round-tripping problem that hoses basic bulleted lists with Office XP, I may just go back to Palm. Word is at least 75% of what I use my iPAQ for, and bulleted lists are in 50% of my documents, particularly when I take notes. Inexcuseable how poorly this works.
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03-26-2002, 07:58 AM
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Intellectual
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 194
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Right on the spot
That's right, many things are missing there.
I would say the one that bothers me most is the inability of PocketWord to handle the full formatting that I get in MS-Word in the PC. For example, a document that includes a table is a recipy for disaster.
I wish Microsoft would do some basic work in these applications and transform them, from marketing gimmicks, into real working tools.
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03-26-2002, 09:21 AM
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Theorist
Join Date: Feb 2002
Posts: 260
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I have speculated this for some times now.
I've always felt that it was never MS's intention to give pocket office the full compatibility with the desktop office software. MS could of easily add this if they wanted too, but have not. I've always had theimpression that the PPC was never a real serious project or concern for Gates. I personally don't think we will see the same compatbility with the pocket office as we see with third party apps for the Palm.
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03-26-2002, 01:42 PM
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Philosopher
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 548
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What is really needed is a modular design for Pocket Office.
I posted this in another forum.
What is needed.
1. the basic Pocket Word as we have them in Pocket PCs.
2. Plug-in number one which allows for formatting retention... Create a Template in desktop Word... like a letter head and margins and have it make it readable in Pocket Word.
3. Plug-in number two. A WYSIWYG plug-in to show it in print preview mode... which also links up to PrintPocket CE. or any print software.
4. Plug-in number three. A formatting editing plug-in that allows you to manage plug-in number one.
What else can you add?
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03-26-2002, 02:11 PM
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Pupil
Join Date: Feb 2002
Posts: 37
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by IpaqMan2
I've always felt that it was never MS's intention to give pocket office the full compatibility with the desktop office software.
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I always thought the Pocket Office issue was an oversight by MS, but now I am beginning to come around. I realized early on that MS thought of PPC devices as PC peripherals, instead of computers in their own right. Now I am beginning to understand why this may have been intententional.
If MS wants to keep pocket PC's tethered to the desktop, they will lose this battle. A lot of people bought into the PPC platform specifically because they wanted a handheld device that would exist as a device on its own -- using a desktop only to move files or synchronize data. I am not alone in my disappointment that MS has not addressed the issue of Word and Excel compatibility in the two years since PPC was released.
I am getting ready to jump ship, despite the fact that I have a lot of money invested in my current PPC. The new Zaurus can do what its more powerful Linux desktops can do, and it runs most of the software available for Linux. I'd call that a true pocket pc.
http://www.the-gadgeteer.com/zaurus-...0d-review.html
http://www.trolltech.com/products/qt...reenshots.html
Nevertheless, I have been posting to all discussions I can find in the faint hope that MS might hear the wake up call. So far, it has been a tree falling in the forest.
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03-26-2002, 02:32 PM
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Philosopher
Join Date: Feb 2002
Posts: 516
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I can imagine that MS may indeed have intentionally hobbled the Pocket Office products, but I'm not sure if I agree with Jeff's reasons why. First, keep in mind that MS (or anyone for that matter) doesn't like to give stuff away for free. When they do it, there's usually a specific reason. By bundling Pocket Word and Excel into a PDA they have a specific marketing advantage over Palm. It doesn't matter that the products are more limited than offerings available for the Palm OS. From a marketing perspective, they still have the advantage because they can stick it in their ads. But it's a difficult situation. If they make the products too good, they've pretty much resigned themselves to the fact that no one will upgrade and pay for a "better" version. I think that if the PPC OS ends up being here for the long haul, that's what we'll see: a Pocket Office Professional pack which has all of the features people here want, but for a price.
The situation isn't much different, IMO, than the situation with the "free" development tools. This, again, was a great marketing idea and some decent shareware apps may have even resulted from these tools. But most of all, it was marketing. The product itself (speaking specifically about eVB here, I don't know about embedded C or whatever it's called), was basically of beta-quality and I think this was intentional. Prior to these free development products, doing CE development meant buying VB6 and paying even more for the CE development add-on to VB6 (whatever that was called). When the PPC actually did reasonably well after its release, it's worth noting that the biggest market seemed to be with businesses. Little wonder then that the further development of a free eVB was shut down and the new development now requires (again) paying for the development tools. I'm still trying to make heads or tails of exactly what I need to buy to develop for PPC. Can someone just buy that $99 copy of VB.NET or do they need one of the much more expensive Visual Studio packages? If the former, I personally have no problem with this. I'd rather spend $99 for a more polished and robust development package which will be supported with bug fixes, etc. than a free beta-quality development package.
Getting back on topic...Again, I don't think that MS has intentionally hobbled the Pocket Office apps because they want to keep you tied to the desktop. First, the nature of the beast is that a PDA will not replace a laptop except for those with the most basic of needs (or very specific needs - like updating a web site article from the floor of CES and updating the site live right from there). I don't want to develop web sites or write applications on a PDA. I don't care how feature-rich the applications are or how powerful the processor is in the PDA. The screen will never compete with my laptop screen, nor will the keyboard or pointing mechanism. Again, I think their decision to hobble the Pocket Office apps (if there is any intentional decision) is more because they want to leave the options open to charge for a "Professional" version later on. That said, if the press (and web sites) keep bashing them over the head with the fact that Palm OS apps can do Word and Excel better, I think they'll at least take care of the minimum to remedy that so that, once again, they can use these apps as a marketing advantage.
Scott
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03-26-2002, 04:07 PM
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Thinker
Join Date: Feb 2002
Posts: 360
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POcket Office
I have to kind of agree with Scott R here. My take on the whole Pocket Office thing is that;
1. It is a small team working on Windows Pocket.
2. As far as I understand it is this team that makes Pocket Office.
3. The team that makes the desktop office is pretty big from what I understand.
In other words the simple man hours involved in porting an application of the magnitude of say word or Excel is probably a setback in it's self.
4. Microsoft may want to insure that Updates to the Pocket OS does include updates to Pocket Office.
5. When MS makes something too good they start charging for things.
In other words if they make pocket office the full fledged app it could and should be, then they no longer include Pocket Office with Pocket Windows and we have to pay extra to get Pocket Office on our MS powered device.
6. I think maybe MS does not want to tick off the developer community. Imagine if MS actually makes PO as well as they should. There is nothing for the 3rd party Developers to inprove and now MS has ticked off developers.
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03-26-2002, 04:36 PM
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Intellectual
Join Date: Feb 2007
Posts: 137
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POcket Office
Quote:
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Originally Posted by JMountford
6. I think maybe MS does not want to tick off the developer community. Imagine if MS actually makes PO as well as they should. There is nothing for the 3rd party Developers to inprove and now MS has ticked off developers.
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There's just one problem with that. Every developer I've talked to has been scared off already from writing anything that would enhance or compete with Pocket Office. Why should they spend the time and money to develop a better word processor than Pocket Word if Microsoft can enhance Pocket Word later? So far, there is no developer community for Pocket PC office suites.
However, this reasoning would change if there was some reason Microsoft was deliberately staying away from enhancing Pocket Office to keep it from competing with Office XP.
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03-26-2002, 04:43 PM
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Pupil
Join Date: Feb 2002
Posts: 17
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What was Pocket Word intended to do?
Unfortunately, when it comes to MS implementation of software on the Pocket PC, I am pessimistic and suspicious. Much to my chagrin, I never viewed Pocket Word (or Excel or Outlook, for that matter) as much more than a mobile viewer of the desktop versions. I create documents on the desktop or laptop, transfer to the Pocket PC for viewing, reference, slight modifications. This is a defeatist attitude, and Pocket Word should be much more powerful than it is, but it isn't. I expect MS to dummy down these products, for whatever reasons. Not being able to do basic formatting in Pocket Word is inexcusable, and it's why when I have documents to create in the Pocket PC I often use something like HPC Notes for basic formatting (at least I can do bulleted lists). If MS ever decided to do software right, developers for great products like Pocket Informant and Agenda Fusion would be out of business or concentrating on some other area where MS is woefully inadequate.
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Linear Mode
