5 ms·

Chromebooks have one fatal flaw: Microsoft Office on them sucks. You're stuck with side-loading in the Android edition, which is an app with a simplified UI and

Chromebooks have one fatal flaw: Microsoft Office on them sucks. You're stuck with side-loading in the Android edition, which is an app with a simplified UI and requiring always-online connection. All of this might be OK for a schoolkid, but for anyone else you might as well stick with a Windows laptop for real work, or an iPad for real consumption.

jenscow 8y ago
That's a flaw of Office, not Chromebooks.
thinkmassive 8y ago
Plenty of people get by without native Office apps. The majority of Linux users for one. And aren’t some of the Mac Office apps basically crippled compared to the Windows versions?
daveFNbuck 8y ago
I haven't used Office since I was a schoolkid, and I do real work. Not everyone has the same needs as you.
Nasrudith 8y ago
I don't get the insistence upon Microsoft word as a killer app personally. It seems to be the suit and tie of software - more expensive than the alternatives and cumbersome but hidebound ones insist it is a prerequisite to be taken seriously.
- antoineMoPa 8y ago
  I can't believe entire businesses I worked for rely on Microsoft Word for documentation. Heavy, slow, expensive, closed source, not searchable, with ugly output.
- pbhjpbhj 8y ago
  Well kids [think they] need it often because schools demand it as the only option for homework submissions -- specifically Word document format. Teachers will provide files in .doc[x] format too. LibreOffice copes mainly but schools don't seem to know that; and teachers of course get deals to lock them in to MS.
rblatz 8y ago
G-Suite is a thing, and so is office 365
- londons_explore 8y ago
  Goodle Docs is a great product, but for serious uses, it's sorely lacking in the features department. It's odd, because even features from the 90's like mail merge are missing. Mail merge as a feature is something most coders could automate in a few hours. Why isn't it in the product so the rest of the world can use it? How about footnotes? References? Multi-column layouts? A mixture of portrait and landscape pages? Captions on tables? Flow text around a circular image? The list of lacking or hobbled features is really long. The unmatched live collaboration features are really the only place it shines.
  - hedora 8y ago
    Yeah, but MS Office is missing transparent font embedding and cross OS file sharing (even between different versions of windows or office). The upshot is the giving PowerPoint presentations is hit or miss / embarrassing, but gsuite presentations usually just work. The same can be said for sharing spreadsheets, etc. Writing documents is fundamentally a form of communication, and MS Office is built with the fundamental assumption that you will share your work by printing it out. The retrofit PDF export works OK, but sharing editable documents does not, and I think they need to from-scratch rewrite the core document engine to fix the problem.
  - skybrian 8y ago
    I'm not sure the average user needs mail merge anymore? These days there are specialized web sites for things like emailing party invites to your friends and keeping track of responses. Similarly, multicolumn layouts are an annoyance to read online, so perhaps not as popular with people who don't print things out. There are website-building web apps these days that do basic sidebars.
  - greglindahl 8y ago
    I don't appear to ever use those features.
mavhc 8y ago
Or the web version, or just use any number of alternatives, not like a word processor is a unique product
- beerlord 8y ago
  There are times when you want to use a laptop without an internet connection. GSuite is not comparable because it is not a standalone, 'desktop' application. I don't want to have to use a version stuffed into a browser.
  - mavhc 8y ago
    So use libreoffice. https://support.google.com/chromebook/answer/3214688?hl=en-GB https://support.google.com/chromebook/answer/3214688?hl=en-G... says gmail, calendar, keep, docs, sheets, slides and drive work offline, plus there's a filter for offline apps. However I was referring to MS Office Online
toast0 8y ago
Chromebooks aren't intended to be all things to all people. They're really a way to provide a browser and little else to people who don't need much other than that. I wouldn't think it's appropriate for someone doing a lot of Microsoft documents, but for someone who ocassiaonally needs to write something nice or crunch a spreadsheet Google docs is an option, and newish chromebooks have access to the Android Google play store, are the Microsoft office apps specifically delisted? If you deal with documents only a few times a year, you can probably make it work.
drcode 8y ago
LOL I agree it's a great short-term strategic move from Microsoft to make sure Android Office is a piece of trash. I can't believe how awful it is every time I need to use it, it can't even properly keep track of what text is highlighted when you make font changes.
jaxondu 8y ago
Chromebook is appealing for enterprise for its cheaper price and low support maintenance. There are many enterprises already running Citrix or AWS Workplace remote desktop to run enterprise app, I don't see how MS Office can not be run this way.
paulcarroty 8y ago
And Adobe Suite.
vatueil 8y ago
Side-loading is no longer necessary. Since last November Microsoft Office is available on all Chromebooks with Android app support: https://www.theverge.com/2017/11/27/16703952/microsoft-office-now-available-on-all-chromebooks https://www.theverge.com/2017/11/27/16703952/microsoft-offic... There's even an Office support page: https://support.office.com/article/how-to-install-and-run-microsoft-office-on-a-chromebook-32f14a23-2c1a-4579-b973-d4b1d78561ad https://support.office.com/article/how-to-install-and-run-mi... Also, the Office apps do work offline.

jenscow 8y ago

That's a flaw of Office, not Chromebooks.

thinkmassive 8y ago

Plenty of people get by without native Office apps. The majority of Linux users for one. And aren’t some of the Mac Office apps basically crippled compared to the Windows versions?

daveFNbuck 8y ago

I haven't used Office since I was a schoolkid, and I do real work. Not everyone has the same needs as you.

Nasrudith 8y ago

I don't get the insistence upon Microsoft word as a killer app personally. It seems to be the suit and tie of software - more expensive than the alternatives and cumbersome but hidebound ones insist it is a prerequisite to be taken seriously.

antoineMoPa 8y ago
I can't believe entire businesses I worked for rely on Microsoft Word for documentation. Heavy, slow, expensive, closed source, not searchable, with ugly output.
pbhjpbhj 8y ago
Well kids [think they] need it often because schools demand it as the only option for homework submissions -- specifically Word document format. Teachers will provide files in .doc[x] format too. LibreOffice copes mainly but schools don't seem to know that; and teachers of course get deals to lock them in to MS.

rblatz 8y ago

G-Suite is a thing, and so is office 365

londons_explore 8y ago
Goodle Docs is a great product, but for serious uses, it's sorely lacking in the features department. It's odd, because even features from the 90's like mail merge are missing. Mail merge as a feature is something most coders could automate in a few hours. Why isn't it in the product so the rest of the world can use it? How about footnotes? References? Multi-column layouts? A mixture of portrait and landscape pages? Captions on tables? Flow text around a circular image? The list of lacking or hobbled features is really long. The unmatched live collaboration features are really the only place it shines.
- hedora 8y ago
  Yeah, but MS Office is missing transparent font embedding and cross OS file sharing (even between different versions of windows or office). The upshot is the giving PowerPoint presentations is hit or miss / embarrassing, but gsuite presentations usually just work. The same can be said for sharing spreadsheets, etc. Writing documents is fundamentally a form of communication, and MS Office is built with the fundamental assumption that you will share your work by printing it out. The retrofit PDF export works OK, but sharing editable documents does not, and I think they need to from-scratch rewrite the core document engine to fix the problem.
- skybrian 8y ago
  I'm not sure the average user needs mail merge anymore? These days there are specialized web sites for things like emailing party invites to your friends and keeping track of responses. Similarly, multicolumn layouts are an annoyance to read online, so perhaps not as popular with people who don't print things out. There are website-building web apps these days that do basic sidebars.
- greglindahl 8y ago
  I don't appear to ever use those features.

mavhc 8y ago

Or the web version, or just use any number of alternatives, not like a word processor is a unique product

beerlord 8y ago
There are times when you want to use a laptop without an internet connection. GSuite is not comparable because it is not a standalone, 'desktop' application. I don't want to have to use a version stuffed into a browser.
- mavhc 8y ago
  So use libreoffice. https://support.google.com/chromebook/answer/3214688?hl=en-GB https://support.google.com/chromebook/answer/3214688?hl=en-G... says gmail, calendar, keep, docs, sheets, slides and drive work offline, plus there's a filter for offline apps. However I was referring to MS Office Online

toast0 8y ago

Chromebooks aren't intended to be all things to all people. They're really a way to provide a browser and little else to people who don't need much other than that. I wouldn't think it's appropriate for someone doing a lot of Microsoft documents, but for someone who ocassiaonally needs to write something nice or crunch a spreadsheet Google docs is an option, and newish chromebooks have access to the Android Google play store, are the Microsoft office apps specifically delisted? If you deal with documents only a few times a year, you can probably make it work.

drcode 8y ago

LOL I agree it's a great short-term strategic move from Microsoft to make sure Android Office is a piece of trash. I can't believe how awful it is every time I need to use it, it can't even properly keep track of what text is highlighted when you make font changes.

jaxondu 8y ago

Chromebook is appealing for enterprise for its cheaper price and low support maintenance. There are many enterprises already running Citrix or AWS Workplace remote desktop to run enterprise app, I don't see how MS Office can not be run this way.

paulcarroty 8y ago

And Adobe Suite.

vatueil 8y ago

Side-loading is no longer necessary. Since last November Microsoft Office is available on all Chromebooks with Android app support: https://www.theverge.com/2017/11/27/16703952/microsoft-office-now-available-on-all-chromebooks https://www.theverge.com/2017/11/27/16703952/microsoft-offic... There's even an Office support page: https://support.office.com/article/how-to-install-and-run-microsoft-office-on-a-chromebook-32f14a23-2c1a-4579-b973-d4b1d78561ad https://support.office.com/article/how-to-install-and-run-mi... Also, the Office apps do work offline.