5 ms·

I had the same reaction. I was wondering, "Since when are Word, Excel, and Photoshop enterprise software?" I've been using these as consumer desktop software

by bhauer 7y ago

I had the same reaction. I was wondering, "Since when are Word, Excel, and Photoshop enterprise software?" I've been using these as consumer desktop software for decades. That said, I do agree with GP that enterprise software is complex because it's designed to be adaptable to existing processes, whereas simpler software seeks to adapt the user to its prescribed process. And even without being an enterprise, I often find myself drawn to software that adapts to my needs and preferences rather than the other way around. Just because the advent of mobile-focused product sensibility has seen a (regrettable, in my opinion) general drift toward significantly reduced feature sets in software does not mean that existing software with broad feature sets is now "enterprise." Anecdotally, 20 years ago, scores of programs allowed the user to easily and broadly customize the colors of their user interface. That sort of flexibility was among the first features on the mobile simplification chopping block. As a result, most software created within the past few years has a single "true and good" color scheme dictated by the designer. Today we see that evolving slightly with the popularity of "dark" schemes, giving the user a choice between two, but only two, designer-crafted themes.

freddie_mercury 7y ago
> Since when are Word, Excel [...] enterprise software? Since Word 1.0. Why do you think it is called Microsoft Office? The 1989 edition of Microsoft Word cost $500, equivalent to over $1,000 today, for a single seat. That's not consumer software. Microsoft Home didn't exist until 1993, a decade into Office's life, when it had achieved complete enterprise dominance -- thanks largely to its competitors' failure to release Windows version in a timely fashion in the late 1980s & early 1990s -- and Microsoft began pushing into consumer software.
- Goladus 7y ago
  When people say "Enterprise Software" they are not talking about shrink-wrap single-user office productivity applications like word processors and spreadsheets. Maybe there should be another term to help clarify for people who don't understand the difference, but the difference really should be obvious from context.
- jasode 7y ago
  >Why do you think it is called Microsoft Office? Some friendly fyi of MS history... Microsoft didn't use the "Office" branding until 1995. Before that, the computer industry called it "productivity software" instead of "enterprise software". In the 1990s, other software companies (like Borland and IBM) were bundling word processors + spreadsheets + presentations + databases into an "office suite" for a lower package price. In the 1980s, Microsoft Word was competing with WordStar and WordPerfect and those were all consumer software for personal computers. Consumers could go into an office supply store and buy shrinkwrapped boxes of those software titles. They didn't need a purchase order from corporate accounting to buy an "enterprise volume license". And consumer magazines like PC Magazine and PC World would run articles comparing MS Word to WordPerfect, etc. Yes, a Fortune 500 corporation today can buy a enterprise volume licenses of MS Office (or Office 365 cloud subscription) but MS Word's roots definitely included the consumer sector. I don't think the example of MS Word fits the author's idea of "enterprise" software.
  - T-hawk 7y ago
    There was also Microsoft Works, which was Microsoft's first integrated word processor, spreadsheet, and database. That was the low-cost consumer-level package for quite a while. It was often OEM-bundled, in hopes of eventually inducing users to buy into Office proper. Works was sold as late as 2007 before being retired in favor of Office instead.
  - scarface74 7y ago
    Microsoft Office was first introduced for the Mac in 1989 and for Windows a year later.
- Mathnerd314 7y ago
  A decent computer was $3,000, or 6x the price of MS Word: https://www.zdnet.com/article/1991s-pc-technology-was-unbelievable/ https://www.zdnet.com/article/1991s-pc-technology-was-unbeli... Today Office is $150, and decent computers are still in the 6x/$900 range. The shift was in computers, from enterprise to consumer, and the software followed.
  - pbhjpbhj 7y ago
    MS Office Pro is £420 [1]. A Dell all-in-one (not especially budget), is £580 [2]. A bulk buy for enterprise would be cheaper. This is inclusive of the cost of MS Windows OS. In the UK a computer that can run MS Office decently costs around the price of the software. You can see why MS create a new version every few years; but why do offices keep buying it. [1] - https://products.office.com/en-gb/buy/office https://products.office.com/en-gb/buy/office [2] - https://deals.dell.com/en-uk/productdetail/2sue https://deals.dell.com/en-uk/productdetail/2sue

by bhauer 7y ago

freddie_mercury 7y ago

> Since when are Word, Excel [...] enterprise software? Since Word 1.0. Why do you think it is called Microsoft Office? The 1989 edition of Microsoft Word cost $500, equivalent to over $1,000 today, for a single seat. That's not consumer software. Microsoft Home didn't exist until 1993, a decade into Office's life, when it had achieved complete enterprise dominance -- thanks largely to its competitors' failure to release Windows version in a timely fashion in the late 1980s & early 1990s -- and Microsoft began pushing into consumer software.

Goladus 7y ago
When people say "Enterprise Software" they are not talking about shrink-wrap single-user office productivity applications like word processors and spreadsheets. Maybe there should be another term to help clarify for people who don't understand the difference, but the difference really should be obvious from context.
jasode 7y ago
>Why do you think it is called Microsoft Office? Some friendly fyi of MS history... Microsoft didn't use the "Office" branding until 1995. Before that, the computer industry called it "productivity software" instead of "enterprise software". In the 1990s, other software companies (like Borland and IBM) were bundling word processors + spreadsheets + presentations + databases into an "office suite" for a lower package price. In the 1980s, Microsoft Word was competing with WordStar and WordPerfect and those were all consumer software for personal computers. Consumers could go into an office supply store and buy shrinkwrapped boxes of those software titles. They didn't need a purchase order from corporate accounting to buy an "enterprise volume license". And consumer magazines like PC Magazine and PC World would run articles comparing MS Word to WordPerfect, etc. Yes, a Fortune 500 corporation today can buy a enterprise volume licenses of MS Office (or Office 365 cloud subscription) but MS Word's roots definitely included the consumer sector. I don't think the example of MS Word fits the author's idea of "enterprise" software.
- T-hawk 7y ago
  There was also Microsoft Works, which was Microsoft's first integrated word processor, spreadsheet, and database. That was the low-cost consumer-level package for quite a while. It was often OEM-bundled, in hopes of eventually inducing users to buy into Office proper. Works was sold as late as 2007 before being retired in favor of Office instead.
- scarface74 7y ago
  Microsoft Office was first introduced for the Mac in 1989 and for Windows a year later.
Mathnerd314 7y ago
A decent computer was $3,000, or 6x the price of MS Word: https://www.zdnet.com/article/1991s-pc-technology-was-unbelievable/ https://www.zdnet.com/article/1991s-pc-technology-was-unbeli... Today Office is $150, and decent computers are still in the 6x/$900 range. The shift was in computers, from enterprise to consumer, and the software followed.
- pbhjpbhj 7y ago
  MS Office Pro is £420 [1]. A Dell all-in-one (not especially budget), is £580 [2]. A bulk buy for enterprise would be cheaper. This is inclusive of the cost of MS Windows OS. In the UK a computer that can run MS Office decently costs around the price of the software. You can see why MS create a new version every few years; but why do offices keep buying it. [1] - https://products.office.com/en-gb/buy/office https://products.office.com/en-gb/buy/office [2] - https://deals.dell.com/en-uk/productdetail/2sue https://deals.dell.com/en-uk/productdetail/2sue