I wasn’t sure if it supported docx…Apparently a lot of people have problems with the formatting and such going back and forth between Office and iWorks.
You’re opening a whole other can of worms here…it’s ok though. I’ll bite.
.doc and .docx are proprietary standards. They are not a format which is open. The only programs that will open/display/edit them flawlessly, is MS Office suite. This is no fault of apple, google, open office, koffice, or any other productivity software creator. They do the best they can to implement support for these file types, but it just is not possible to do it perfectly.
So don’t go blaming anyone but MS for formatting issues on these file types. Until they start using an open format, everyone will suffer.
Apple is the king of proprietary everything. Why would MS open up ANYTHING to them, with the way they rape everyone?
sigh
Document formats should be open to all. Two wrongs don’t make a right, and us the consumers just end up suffering.
I am OK with proprietary software. I am a huge open source fan, and prefer to support open source when I can… but I understand that companies need to make a dime. The stuff that is common to all users, though, should be open standards. The same way that there are open standards for wireless networks, HTML, sending/recieving email, etc…
HTML is a pretty close and good example. The document format is a standard. The software used to display the document however, is not. Don’t you hate it when you have specific websites that REQUIRE internet explorer? Well, I hate it when someone sends me a document and it requires that I have a PAID FOR piece of software to view it.
Right, but Office to Office should be fine. My major point before going into this tangent was these shouldn’t be regarded as replacements to laptops/netbooks.
But the Slate (running windows 7) will allow users to run MS Office, ala all the .doc/.docx editing you could need. The point is, there is no lack of office suites that will allow users to interact with their ‘MS Office’ documents.
Office Viewer has always been free. If you’re on a regular computer, you dont need a PAID FOR piece of software to view it. If you’re using this thing, you do.
Runs only on Windows and mac…try again
edit: M$ says they have viewers for mac, but I don’t see them on the download site, maybe I am missing something. http://www.microsoft.com/mac/downloads.mspx
In any case, it’s still BS, and I stand behind my original statement that proprietary document standards are RIDICULOUS.
The iPhone / iPad has always read .doc .docx, .xls, .xlsx, .ppt, .pptx, .htm, .html, .vcd, .log, .txt, .mp3, etc… Out of the box.
You can send and receive MS Office documents, but cant natively edit them. MS is rumored to come out with a iPad Office app, however.
There are more than one apps available to edit MS Office documents, I didnt test any of them however.
And if you really need to type something serious, you can always connect a bluetooth keyboard. Not just a Apple bluetooth keyboard, any.
I dont see how anyone is going to find a massively superior way of typing on a tablet without having a large area of dedicated space wasted to a hardware keyboard, that some users wont use or like.
Apples 1PM event today detailed the new OS 4, which does indeed support multitasking. They didnt say much about a limit on the number of apps at once, but the way there doing it there probably isnt a limit. Wont be until Summer when they release it, however. Digital zoom on the iPhone, folders, improved mail, and many other minor tweaks.
the limit is not on the number of apps that can run at once. the limit is what capabilities they have. Apple has given the ability to run 7 types of background services. Basically, the app goes into a sleep mode with limited functionality
- audio playback (pandora, obviously)
- voip services (basically, you can recieve a skype call)
- pushing notifications (facebook messages, emails, etc…)
- completing a task (ie, allowing a download to finish, or a photo to upload)
I don’t know the last few
One thing to note, they did not give the capability for Instant Messaging services or twitter-like services to run in the background.
I feel that is the best way to do it, since running two or three apps full out would rape the already poor battery life for the iPod Touch / iPhone.
Most of the things you would need to do are covered.
And if you really wanted to, you can just jailbreak it and run backgrounder. Theres no excuse to not jail breaking the device, you can do things no company is going to allow.