Microsoft Is Bringing Office to the Windows Store (venturebeat.com) 57
An anonymous reader quotes a report from VentureBeat: At its Microsoft EDU event in New York City today, the company announced it is bringing Microsoft Office to the Windows Store. We're talking about the full Win32 version of Office -- this is not a mobile version, Universal Windows Platform (UWP) app, or an otherwise dumbed-down release. Terry Myerson, executive vice president for Microsoft's Windows and Devices Group, confirmed onstage that Word, Excel, PowerPoint, "and more" were coming. He did not give a date for the launch (Update: Microsoft confirmed after the event that the target is June). Office is not the first set of Win32 apps in the Windows Store. This is part of a broader effort called Project Centennial, which lets desktop developers package and publish their existing .NET and Win32-based Windows applications to the Windows Store. The app type was first unveiled at Microsoft's Build developer conference in April 2015, but the first apps only started arriving in September 2016.
Wait. It wasn't already there? (Score:3)
You couldn't buy word on the windows store? That can't be true, can it?
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Extra! Extra! Read all about it! Microsoft Sells Their Own Software in Their Branded Store!
Come on, slashdot, don't use bots for clickbait, you need some real humans to write your clickbait for this demographic.
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To be honest, it would have otherwise been surprising, because even Microsoft themselves know that their crappy store is a wasteland, but they kind of had to. They probably wouldn't have bothered doing this if it hadn't been for the upcoming release of "Windows 10 S", which stands for "Windows 10, Shit edition".
If Microsoft actually wanted Office in this way for any other reason, I'm sure they would have gone the extra mile and outright made it into a UWP app, but even they don't want to swallow that turd.
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I like the S though, I used to run Win 3.11 with the 32s extensions. Kept me from having to use Windows 95.
Windows 10 has way bigger problems than an S.
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Not that surprising. We're not exactly dealing with a rational company here.
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Re:Wait. It wasn't already there? (Score:5, Insightful)
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Funny how this is announced in step with the announcement of Windows 10 S, which will only run things from the Windows Store. Seems like the timing is related.
Both are a consequence of Microsoft giving up on mobile, without convergence they don't need UWP so they don't care if it's a "classic" application anymore. They're still trying to salvage their "take a cut from every sale" strategy of copying Apple, but if they don't do anything there's no reason for manufacturers to use the store. So the store-only version of Windows is a poorly hidden attempt to sell crippleware under the guise of being educational while goading manufacturers to make store versions of th
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They're still trying to salvage their "take a cut from every sale" strategy of copying Apple
Microsoft's Xbox Live Arcade preceded Apple's iOS App Store in this respect.
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So, assuming this is the existing Win32 version of Office repackaged to live in the app store, can we also assume it's the X86 version? Or are they providing tools to build native ARM versions of Win32 apps. Are all 10 S devices required to use Intel processors?
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I don't actually want to slag off Windows, Microsoft or the people who swear by Microsoft products - but every time I see this kind of news, I'm just so happy I left it behind and moved to Linux. It is strange, and not a little sad, to look back to the time when DOS and Windows were so cool and I thought of Microsoft as pioneers in making computer freedom possible. I used to love programming for Windows 3, as poor ad rickety as it was, but then they started turning the thumbscrews ever harder.
I have no idea
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You couldn't buy word on the windows store?
Yeah, this doesn't make any sense. I know you could buy Office in stores -- but all your got was a product key card that you were them required to add to a Microsoft Account online to download the installers.
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With the (very) recent release of Windows 10 S, and with it only being able to download and install apps from the Windows store. It makes complete sense.
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Windows Store apps are limited - you have to do it as a Universal Windows Platform (UWP) app, which means CLR and other restrictions.
Office is still fundamentally a Win32 application and far from universal.
Huh. (Score:3)
Re: Wow (Score:4, Funny)
Daddy, what does "Buy once version" mean?
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Why don't they make a 64 bit version of office and release that?
Well, why would they? Is there a pressing technical reason to make the effort?
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There were a few crazy/specialized Excel users that needed it. Beyond that, I'm not sure.
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You're replying to the wrong person. I know that. I was answering why. I didn't even realize they were claiming it didn't exist.
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Sounds like someone went way too far down the Excel rabbit-hole before realising it was too late to move to a proper relational database.
I'm guessing it was someone with deep pockets, or Microsoft would've just rightly told them they were out of their minds. Sometimes a use-case really can be wrong.
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I remember comments on Slashdot, but I don't remember what they were. Most of them bad use-cases, but quick 'n dirty hacks. Ah, found it - https://linux.slashdot.org/com... [slashdot.org]
It was from before there was even a 64-bit version to overcome those limits.
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Thanks for the interesting link.
Seems to me that anyone dealing with that amount of data for a living no longer gets to play the but Excel is all I know card.
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Why don't they make a 64 bit version of office
Sure. As soon as you tell them exactly what benefit there will be to the end user.
More bits = more better is not a benefit.
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If all running applications are 64-bit, the operating system can unload the 32-bit compatibility DLLs from RAM, freeing up more RAM to run applications.
Taken one step further, a fully 64-bit environment can let the operating system publisher remove 32-bit compatibility libraries from secondary storage entirely. This is the excuse that someone on another forum gave [nesdev.com]. His PC runs 64-bit GNU/Linux, and he's unwilling to use 32-bit applications because they need hundreds of megabytes of 32-bit libraries, even th
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I do like the irony of wanting to move completely to 64bit (something primarily used to overcome addressable memory limits) in order to free up a paltry amount of RAM or diskspace.
To be honest it's a lame excuse.
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There is a 64bit version of Office. It isn't that common to see it pre-installed in computers but it is available (maybe not on the Windows store but can be downloaded from Microsoft).
Title correction. (Score:1)
It should read: Microsoft is bringing office software cloud rental to the Windows Store. Or "All your docs and com are belong to us first!". With the death of and expense of the mistakes they have made in the cell industry it seems that they are now hell bent on removing vendors the way they tried with the tablet and cell manufactures and vendors. When will they learn that you have to pull the pistol out of the holder before you pull the trigger?
I see a butt tonne of layoffs on the horizon and Redmond is g
So, when are they bringing Windows to the store? (Score:2)
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Wait, so you still have to actually buy windows? So everyone bitching about windows 10 actually paid money for it?
FYI you can download the latest macOS for free from the mac app store.
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That's actually the strange kicker, too. Basically every non-Microsoft consumer OS made except doesn't come with any ads, and yet they're all free. Yet Microsoft includes ads and adware built in to the OS and still charges you money for it. I think Microsoft stole the cable/satellite TV industry's playbook.
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With Linux you get what you paid for.
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Android has neither ads nor adware, nor does it even come with apps that show any kind of ads (unless you count ads found on websites while using Chrome.) Some OEMs add adware/trialware/crapware, but Google doesn't, especially in their first party devices which (at least until Pixel) were sold at below cost.
Even if Android did have ads, it would be somewhat excusable because you literally pay nothing for it; the cost isn't even baked into your device. Yet Microsoft not only makes you pay for Windows, but th
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FYI you can download the latest macOS for free from the mac app store.
Only as an upgrade. If you have a preinstalled version of Sierra, for example, you can't tie a "purchase" of Sierra to your account. You can do Internet recovery to Sierra, but you can't download the installer to do a bare install yourself.
Re:What's the point? (Score:4, Insightful)
You'd think that if UWP was actually worth a shit, Microsoft would port their best selling software to it.
Windows store is dead (Score:1)
Windows store is a dismal void, containing only a few crappy 'new' style windows apps. Microsoft has completely misunderstood the concept of a package manager, and its utility in managing dependencies. On top of that, wants to take a cut of third party app sales. It is simply never going to happen.
Office? (Score:2)
Not surprising... (Score:2)
A start (Score:2)
So, Microsoft wants to prove that the Windows Store concept works, by eating their own dogfood by using it as a distribution channel for regular Win32/Win64 software.
Let's have a look for all the Microsoft Products that I use, to see if I can aquire them through Windows Store:
Microsoft Code for Visual Studio : No
Microsoft Office : No (not yet)
Microsoft Visio : No
Microsoft Visual Studio Community Edition : No
Okay, so let's look at my favourite / most used third-party bits of software:
Google Chrome : No, but
No big deal (Score:1)