Your platform will dictate your office app

Earlier this week, I had a story and a related spreadsheet nearly ready for my editor, but I needed to verify a few details first. Because I was nowhere near a computer that day, I couldn't fire up Microsoft Word and Excel to update the story and spreadsheet. However, I had an iPhone and an iPad, so I moved the files to my Dropbox account, where I could update the files on the road and send it to my editor.

I didn't have Wi-Fi access when the missing notes came in, so I couldn't use my iPad without spending $20 to enable a cellular connection. My iPhone has several office apps on it, so I went with that. Because the files were in Dropbox, I launched Quickoffice Pro, as it directly connects to Dropbox and other cloud services -- unlike Apple's iWork suite, which requires copying files from cloud services to the apps via Open In, then copying them back out, whch creates version-control hassles. Unfortunately, Dropbox was no longer there.
We seem to be moving to a world where you'll realistically have a choice of just iWork on iOS and OS X, Quickoffice on Chrome OS (and perhaps iOS and Android tablets), and Office on Windows and (in a limited version) OS X. (Yes, Microsoft has Office for Android smartphones, the iPhone, and Windows Phone, but it's horrible on Windows Phone, Android, and iOS and can't be used seriously.) If this scenario plays out, Google Drive will be the barely functional cross-platform "solution" for non-Google platforms, just as the Web versions of Office 365 and iWork will be for the non-Microsoft and non-Apple platforms, respectively.
Apple, Google, or Microsoft? Your platform will dictate your office app | Consumerization Of It - InfoWorld
 
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