RSSMicrosoft: Office 14 Web apps should run on Macs
By Scott M. Fulton, III | Published November 18, 2008, 12:04 PM
In a surprise correction of information BetaNews received at PDC 2008 last month, a Microsoft spokesperson now says its forthcoming Office Web apps with Office 14 will run on platforms other than Windows.
Exact details of how this feat will take place have not been completely ironed out at present. However, cross-platform execution is apparently a principal goal of Office Web applications. This statement from a Microsoft spokesperson to BetaNews last night corroborates a Channel 10 blog post by an independent contributor to Microsoft, and a Gregg Keizer Computerworld report that followed.
"The information in the Channel 10 article is accurate," spokesperson Scott Massey told BetaNews. "Silverlight (and/or the .NET Framework) are not required by the Office Web apps. They run cross-platform and cross-browser, and will use Silverlight if available, but will run using AJAX if not."
Based on Microsoft's current security model, what happens in an "if-not" situation would probably be that graphics for the online Word and Excel versions would look somewhat different. Access to the cache of installed fonts is possible through Silverlight, though not permissible using browser-based technologies alone. Without Silverlight or the full .NET Framework installed on a system, documents that use fonts installed on the user's system that aren't necessarily Web fonts, may not be visible through the browser...unless Microsoft has figured out, or plans to figure out, a workaround for that problem. At PDC, no such plans were mentioned.
Although use of the Web apps could still require the use of Office Live Workspace as a secure storage area for documents being edited online, Massey stated that the current beta of Office Live Workspace is "currently accessible on a Mac via Firefox." The experience for Mac users isn't identical to that for Windows users, at least not now, though "Mac users can work with Office Live Workspace as a file store today," he said.
Massey went on to tell BetaNews that while the Office Web apps will "have ties to Office Live," they will not require the user to be licensed for the traditional Office desktop suite. Exactly how the company's revenue model will work in that instance has yet to be determined, though evidently a subscription model is being considered.
I think the proper question is "will they work correctly?" or at least, the same as on Windows.
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I don't see why they bother. Not like Apple is ever going to return the favor.
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You got that right. iWork 08 puts Office to shame.
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LOL!! Oh, thats a good one.
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No smoking!
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OpenOffice.org puts both to shame. It's the fastest office suite available too. If you think OpenOffice.org is slow then it's your computer, not the software.
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Funny.
Office 2007 apps load faster on my system than OpenOffice 3 apps do.
...even with the OpenOffice 3.0 quickstart.
Oh, and I get Outlook. ;)
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OpenOffice.org 3 apps start almost instantly on my computer without quickstart. The logo with the progress bar never displays for more than three seconds before the application opens. Even though it's not part of OpenOffice.org, Mozilla Thunderbird is an excellent free replacement for Outlook.
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"Mozilla Thunderbird is an excellent free replacement for Outlook."
Exchange support?
Really. Comparing OSS crapware to the stuff of legends that is Microsoft Software, you have to be joking.
Nothing compares to Office. Just like nothing compares to Windows. You just haven't seen the light yet.
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Microsoft overcharges for Office. If you really need Outlook that badly then it's better to buy it separately and use the superior OpenOffice.org for everything else. As for Windows, anything else is better.
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well this is good news
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