Gadget To Day: Re: [macsupport] Re: Microsoft Office is now free!

On Nov 9, 2014, at 7:48 PM, Charles Carroll 911@learnasp.com [macsupportcentral] wrote:

> But I expect FreeWare, Jr, Software, Limited Feature or Freemium to be labelled correctly by a big company like MS - surely they have lawyers who should be tolling them misrepresentation is risky with pockets as deep as theirs.

You're right, they do. Which is why their free product has a complete assortment of all the usual features that a non-professional might expect from an iOS app. All that Microsoft is promising is that you can "view, create and edit" your documents in their product. That's it.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/microsoft-word-for-ipad/id586447913?mt=8
It isn't a feature-limited product in that regard, no special designations are required. It is a complete product for non-professionals.

If you are a professional and want advanced features, you are going to have to pay for them. That's all there is to it. Microsoft hasn't been hiding that fact. There are a bunch of articles about it on the Web:
http://www.pcworld.com/article/2844476/office-goes-free-on-phones-and-tablets-what-you-get-and-what-you-dont.html

> There are companies that offer FREE software subsidized by their paid software, and MS has plenty of budget to do that.

Then I suggest that you go with those companys' products instead. Microsoft has chosen not to use that business model. Yet, so far, customers seem to be pretty happy with what Microsoft is offering for free.

If you look at most of the iTunes reviews for the new free version of Office for iOS, everyone seems to understand that this is not a professional product, yet they still like it more than the free alternatives that they have tried. No one is complaining that they aren't getting all the free features that they deserve.

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Randy B. Singer
Co-author of The Macintosh Bible (4th, 5th, and 6th editions)

Macintosh OS X Routine Maintenance
http://www.macattorney.com/ts.html
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