Touch-based Office apps for Windows have been on Microsoft's to-do list since at least September 2011, when then-CEO Steve Ballmer hinted that the company was working on "Metro-izing" Office. Those apps could be used only for non-commercial purposes business customers were required to pay extra. Or Microsoft could revert to the licensing scheme it applied to the Surface RT (subsequently renamed Surface) and Surface 2 tablets, which came with an odd-ball edition of Office. Currently, Microsoft allows the included-with-Windows-Phone Office Mobile app to be used for business, and could duplicate that with the individual Windows 10 apps destined to supplant Office Mobile. Rob Helm, an analyst with Directions on Microsoft, wondered today how Microsoft will license the not-yet-available Office for Windows 10 apps that will be bundled with smartphones and smaller tablets. Using them on the Windows apps would mesh with Microsoft's goal of enticing consumers to subscribe to the rent-not-own Office 365 and its requirement of a business-grade subscription for any commercial usage on mobile.īut Microsoft could give Windows devices an advantage. Those licensing terms may not be set in stone, but they're what Microsoft has applied to the Office apps on the iPhone, iPad, and Android smartphones and tablets. ![]() Full functionality will be tied to an Office 365 consumer or corporate subscription, with the latter required for work-related legality. Unless the firm turns its Office business model upside down, it will limit the touch apps' features for consumers, who will be able to download and use them free of charge only for non-commercial purposes. and larger tablets, and on touch-enabled notebooks - or the cost of Office 2016 for either Windows or OS X. Microsoft has said nothing of how it will price Office for Windows 10 - on 8-in. That, along with a similar suite for Apple's OS X, are also to launch in the back half of 2015. company is also working on Office 2016, the next iteration of the more traditional desktop powerhouse and the successor to Office 2013. Microsoft expects to wrap up work on the Office touch apps by the time it ships Windows 10, now scheduled in the vague "later this year" timeframe. Wednesday's previews were stocked on the beta of the Windows Store for Windows 10. It will also be available for larger-screen devices from the Windows Store. Office for Windows 10 will be pre-installed on new Windows 10-powered smartphones and tablets with screens smaller than 8-in. and larger, as well as notebooks - and the few desktops - equipped with a touch-sensitive display. ![]() ![]() Those previewed today aim at tablets 8-in. The apps are analogous to those for Excel, PowerPoint and Word that have been available on Apple's iPad since March 2014: designed for touchscreens with an abridged set of features compared to the keyboard- and mouse-operated desktop editions. Microsoft recently released Outlook as a native app for both iOS and Android. The latter will sport both email and calendar functionality. Today's three-app preview is to be only the start of what Microsoft has dubbed "Office for Windows 10," which is to also include OneNote and Outlook.
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