Real Office capabilities on Mobile Devices!
April 05, 2017
Real Office capabilities on Mobile Devices!
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Software Version
Microsoft Office (Installed)
Overall Satisfaction with Microsoft Office 365
Office 365 is being rolled out to staff, students and faculty on our campus. It offers the ability to work with the products online, but also to download and install it on desktop computers for ease of use. That flexibility makes it exceptional for some of our senior leaders with small machines that don't have the disk space for full installs. The real strength appears to be the mobile versions of the tools, with the ability to collaborate an added bonus.
- When installed on a desktop, it is indistinguishable from prior versions in terms of performance and features.
- Brings nearly equal functionality to mobile platforms as on a deskop, making it possible to work with spreadsheets, presentations and word docs in a native IOS app.
- Includes online storage to make collaboration and mobile access possible.
- Integrated access to Dropbox.
- Mobile versions don't do EVERYTHING that the desktops can do, so you can't necessarily live just in those.
- Mac versions are STILL missing many of the features that Windows users take for granted.
- Subscription model (rather than purchasing the software) can result in higher costs over time.
- Office 365 has allowed me to be productive at conferences on my iPad. That means no lugging a heavy laptop with a short battery life. Anything that makes travel less painful is a positive impact on my work.
Office remains the leader in the business productivity market. Apple's alternatives (Pages, Numbers, and Keynote) are nowhere near as powerful and Microsoft incorporates any good ideas they have very quickly (keynote's presentation mode). Google Docs/Sheets are convenient for simple tasks, but they can only do the basics of those types of applications. I work in Excel all day every day and could not do what I do in either numbers or sheets. The tools just don't have the capabilities. And now that those capabilities are more available in mobile versions, Microsoft has locked me in.
Using Microsoft Office 365
10000 - Nearly all employees, all faculty and all students use Office. Not all have converted to Office 365 yet, but more are moving over every day due to mobile friendliness and new features available. Every function within the university is represented.
50 - Desktop support, the student help desk and other technical support folks provide some support for Office, but frankly that is primarily in terms of installation. Once the tool is installed, we have no real support function for the tool other than one another and the internet. That generally hasn't been an issue.
- Financial planning and analysis (Excel).
- Writing research papers and other documents (Word).
- Constructing presentations for class, professional groups, etc., (PowerPoint).
- As it becomes ubiquitous, I expect to see more collaborative work going on. Right now that function is used only by a few people, but the level of co-authoring and team projects in a university invariably mean there are more opportunities.