Comments on: Does Microsoft need to go cross-platform to save Office? http://enterprise2blog.com/2009/06/does-microsoft-need-to-go-cross-platform-to-save-office/ Enterprise 2.0 Blog Fri, 12 Mar 2010 07:06:55 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.7 hourly 1 By: Irwin Lazar http://enterprise2blog.com/2009/06/does-microsoft-need-to-go-cross-platform-to-save-office/comment-page-1/#comment-30688 Irwin Lazar Wed, 17 Jun 2009 01:54:56 +0000 http://enterprise2blog.com/2009/06/does-microsoft-need-to-go-cross-platform-to-save-office/#comment-30688 Thanks for your comments! Two quick responses: I did note that there are native Mac versions of Office, but the fact that the Mac and Windows versions of Office are different reinforces my point, it leads to compatibility issues as well as the challenge from an IT support perspective of supporting different applications (contrast that with OO or Symphony which are identical on Mac or Win). Note that Microsoft's Mac BU sits in their Entertainment and Devices division. The reality is that Mac use is growing in the enterprise market, and Apple continues trying to make the Mac more business-friendly (note Snow Leopard will enable ActiveSync for Mac Mail, Calendar and Address book). I can't speak to your own issues with Mac management, but I'll note that in our recent interviews with IT leaders from approximately 200 end-user organizations we noted that 33% of participants said they were increasing the size of their non-Windows (Mac and Linux) populations. Thanks for your comments! Two quick responses: I did note that there are native Mac versions of Office, but the fact that the Mac and Windows versions of Office are different reinforces my point, it leads to compatibility issues as well as the challenge from an IT support perspective of supporting different applications (contrast that with OO or Symphony which are identical on Mac or Win). Note that Microsoft’s Mac BU sits in their Entertainment and Devices division.

The reality is that Mac use is growing in the enterprise market, and Apple continues trying to make the Mac more business-friendly (note Snow Leopard will enable ActiveSync for Mac Mail, Calendar and Address book). I can’t speak to your own issues with Mac management, but I’ll note that in our recent interviews with IT leaders from approximately 200 end-user organizations we noted that 33% of participants said they were increasing the size of their non-Windows (Mac and Linux) populations.

]]> By: OneOpinion http://enterprise2blog.com/2009/06/does-microsoft-need-to-go-cross-platform-to-save-office/comment-page-1/#comment-30663 OneOpinion Tue, 16 Jun 2009 20:11:14 +0000 http://enterprise2blog.com/2009/06/does-microsoft-need-to-go-cross-platform-to-save-office/#comment-30663 Two issues with your post, first your last sentence says, "Perhaps its time that Microsoft finally consider extending it's Windows version of Office to the Mac," but as you yourself state at the beginning of the paragraph, there is an Office version for Mac. While it's not the same version number, it's feature set overlaps in almost every normal area of the application. Second issue is that while your thesis is an interesting one to argue, your argument is weak. Because users have ipods and prefer business-feature lacking Macs at home, businesses need to cater to the integration problems their users want to introduce? If OpenOffice or whatever other free productivity suite is going to have any impact on businesses, it's going to be in startups that can make choices in the beginning and start fresh. Mac in the workplace is a joke for most business purposes. I work in a business with 300 PC users and 3 Mac users and we spend more time troubleshooting the Mac users than all the PC users combined. Between printer issues, file-sharing issues, overpriced equipment and hardware support, constant patches and updates for every piece of software bundled into OS X (not that Windows doesn't have patches but I can centrally manage all those updates), it's a joke to thing there is any reason they belong in a business. Designers seem to think they can only design on a Mac. Now every program we buy has PC and Mac versions, so the design requirement is out the window. Basically it boils down to this advertising hype that Macs are pretty and unique and that's what the designers need to be reminded of. Anyway, the point is that there will not be a huge surge of free productivity suites creaping into businesses. The conversions are horrible from a training standpoint, integration standpoint, and at the end of the day if a company is using Office already and trying to save money, they'll just forego upgrading to the newest version of Office. Two issues with your post, first your last sentence says, “Perhaps its time that Microsoft finally consider extending it’s Windows version of Office to the Mac,” but as you yourself state at the beginning of the paragraph, there is an Office version for Mac. While it’s not the same version number, it’s feature set overlaps in almost every normal area of the application.
Second issue is that while your thesis is an interesting one to argue, your argument is weak. Because users have ipods and prefer business-feature lacking Macs at home, businesses need to cater to the integration problems their users want to introduce? If OpenOffice or whatever other free productivity suite is going to have any impact on businesses, it’s going to be in startups that can make choices in the beginning and start fresh.
Mac in the workplace is a joke for most business purposes. I work in a business with 300 PC users and 3 Mac users and we spend more time troubleshooting the Mac users than all the PC users combined. Between printer issues, file-sharing issues, overpriced equipment and hardware support, constant patches and updates for every piece of software bundled into OS X (not that Windows doesn’t have patches but I can centrally manage all those updates), it’s a joke to thing there is any reason they belong in a business. Designers seem to think they can only design on a Mac. Now every program we buy has PC and Mac versions, so the design requirement is out the window. Basically it boils down to this advertising hype that Macs are pretty and unique and that’s what the designers need to be reminded of.
Anyway, the point is that there will not be a huge surge of free productivity suites creaping into businesses. The conversions are horrible from a training standpoint, integration standpoint, and at the end of the day if a company is using Office already and trying to save money, they’ll just forego upgrading to the newest version of Office.

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