Rumor on Office 12 for Windows Mobile

[Colin Dunstan]

Microsoft Watch dug up some details about Microsoft's long-awaited Office 12 beta 1 program. Supposedly it'll also include a new version of the company's mobile office suite:

Tentatively called "Office 12 for Windows Mobile," the product will consist of viewers for Word, Excel and PowerPoint (along with some very limited editing capabilities for Word and Excel) — plus a new "OneNote Mobile" version of Microsoft's OneNote note-taking application. The mobile Office 12 suite is being designed to run on smart phones and PDAs, sources said... OneNote Mobile is set to include note taking and viewing capabilities. And because it will be phone-based, it will be able to take advantage of built-in camera phones, allowing users to snap photos of whiteboards, documents or other source information, and then annotate and share that information from a smart phone or PDA, sources said.

Meanwhile you can switch over to Palm and use the excellent Documents To Go Suite.

[cbarnett]

Or you can go to Softmaker and check out their two main products, Planmaker and Textmaker, both excellent replacements for the built in PocketExcel and PocketWord. They are full featured spreadsheet and word processor applications, and IMHO are what MS should have put in Windows Mobile in the first place, but that's another argument

I use Textmaker all the time, both on my X50v and on the desktop.

[derekweb]

But not for the same cost as "Documents To Go". Especially if you get it bundled with the handheld itself.

The whole problem with Windows Mobile is that it's too expensive as a platform (as a whole). I'm *still* not up and running yet with all the software that I want, and I've already spent over $800+ USD on this crazy thing.

Handheld/iPaq hx2755 = $550 +tax USD
BT Keyboard = $125+tax USD
Software to better use device:
-- WisBar Advanced 2 + WisBar Advanced Desktop
-- MemMaid
-- Resco Utility Suite (File Manager, Photo Viewer, and Sticky Notes)
-- HanDBase
-- SPB Finance
-- My Roots
-- US Army Body Fat % Calc
-- Tweaks2k2 .Net
-- NetFront 3.1 & NetFront 3.2 (since they charged for a minor update)
-- iSilo
-- Pocket Flash Player
-- Dashboard

That isn't to count that, in order to duplicate *everything* that my old T3 did before it failed, I still need to purchase Astronomy software, as well as a full office suite. Does that software exist? Yes, ... individually. The office suite itself does NOT exist, and you therefore have to purchase PlanMaker and TextMaker independently, despite that they are created by the same software-house. Further, they charge premium for that software on an individual basis. It is their right; they created the software. They control the licensing and costs of it.

But as a consumer, I've been less than 100% thrilled about the expenses of this device vs what I had to pay for my old T3. Now with the release of the new Palm T|X, I find myself severely questioning my desire to keep the iPaq and am planning an option to acquire a T|X.

In short, I don't believe that on an equal basis, that the Palm and Windows Mobile platforms are priced equivalently. Further, Palm tends to be more frugal with their software/hardware consumptions, where 64mb on a Palm is roughly equal to about 512mb dedicated user memory on a windows mobile handheld. In short, Palm isn't perfect but the "great divide" of what Palm can and can not do is growing very very short indeed. Further, now with the T|X pricing at $299 and the battery life now much better in all reviews, and much better than the Dell x50v or iPaqhx2755, as well as incorporating NonVolitile Memory, I have to ask this question:

Why buy Windows Mobile for so much more of an expense, when you can get the T|X for so much less, and get so much more included "In The Box"?

[cbarnett]

Heh, I'm firmly in the "Dark Side" camp, so nothing you can say will change my mind, derekweb

To be honest, a lot of commercial software for WM _is_ sometimes more expensive than the equivalent palm software.... if you can find the Palm software that does the same thing. There's also a _huge_ amount of quality freeware as alternatives to a lot of the commercial stuff around now, certainly more than there was a couple of years ago. Of all the software installed on my X50v (and there's a _lot_ ), maybe 25-30% of it is commercial or shareware, the rest is freeware of some kind.

I think at this point in time, the two main PDA "brands" are pretty closely matched in ability and software (though not many palms can match the Axim X50v/X51v or Ipaq 4700). It's really a personal preference choice. Some people like the more streamlined and intuitive Palm interface, others like the power and flexibility of WM. I've used both, and like elements of both, but still prefer WM.... but that's just me

[derekweb]

And you know, Craig, that is more than fair. It comes down to individual preference. Always has. :-) And please understand that I'm not trying to change anyone's mind. I think I've been ranting a bit because I've spent so much cash on the transition to Windows Mobile, and I dont' feel the "Warm Fuzzies". Further, as you can see above, I still don't even have all of the necessary software yet for my handheld (note: Necessary is defined by me as software that *I* need to make my handheld completely autonomous from other computers for the vast majority of the time.).

There is indeed a great deal of Freeware out there. This I think I must applaud, because when I tried the WM platform before (WM2000, on an Casio EM500) there was hardly *anything* for free, and most of the software out there on PocketGear was porno crappy-arsed card games. This situation has DEFINITELY improved greatly, and this is a major set of Kudo's to the developers out there.

Some names of the great stuff:
BetaPlayer / TCPMP
GS Player
WiFiFoFum
Pocket Euchre
Smart Mahjongg
Space Invaders
Trip Yatzee
TK Creator
Mortgage Calc
Calc98
SplashID (free version, on sale special dealio on PocketGear one day)
Orionic

Those are the great guys and gals that program for us. They have some great stuff for the Windows Mobile platform. Wonder if someone will make a GPL version of a Word Processor and Spreadsheet for the PPC platform. :-) One could *always* hope. But I don't think I'll hold my breath. LOL