Microsoft gives up on UWP Office Apps because of the death of Windows Phone

[AlTech]

Microsoft has given up on UWP Offices apps mostly thanks to the death of Windows Phone and Windows 10 Tablets.

 

The Verge reports that Microsoft has ceased development of Touch optimized UWP Office apps for Windows. The company will allegedly be focussing on Android and IOS Office apps as well as Win32 Desktop apps for Office.

 

Quote

Microsoft first started work on its touch-friendly Office apps for Windows 8.1 more than five years ago. Designed for tablets or laptops with touchscreens, the apps are lightweight and speedy versions of Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. Microsoft has updated them regularly for Windows 10, but now that the company has halted work on Windows 10 Mobile, it’s also halting work on these Office apps.

The apps aren’t fully dead yet, but Microsoft is no longer developing new features for them. “We are currently prioritizing development for the iOS and Android versions of our apps; and on Windows, we are prioritizing Win32 and web versions of our apps,” explains a Microsoft spokesperson in a statement to The Verge.

 

Quote

The reprioritization isn’t all that surprising given the state of dedicated universal Windows apps on Windows 10 and the Microsoft Store. These touch-friendly versions of Office were once a great example of what developers could achieve if they made universal Windows apps, but Microsoft now lets developers simply package existing desktop apps and list them in the store. There’s little incentive for developers to create these new universal Windows apps, and Microsoft’s own prioritization for Office makes it clear that traditional desktop apps will remain the powerful apps on desktop Windows machines.

While Microsoft currently uses these touch-friendly apps on devices like the HoloLens and Surface Hub 2, it’s clear that the company sees an opportunity to push development of its web versions of Office as a replacement. Microsoft could make these web versions far more powerful as browser standards continue to emerge, and with progressive web apps they’ll certainly look and feel a lot more like a traditional app anyway.

 

Honestly, if Office 2019 for Desktop is actually an Electron App (we don't 100% know yet) then this would make a lot of sense. And Microsoft would still be able to package Office and distribute it via the Windows Store as they have been doing for a while.

 

I'm hoping that if Office 2019 is Electron based that they'll finally make a Linux version of their Office apps.

 

Source: https://www.theverge.com/2018/9/28/17913174/microsoft-office-universal-apps-windows-10-development

[Zando_]

3 minutes ago, AluminiumTech said:

I'm hoping that if Office 2019 is Electron based that they'll finally make a Linux version of their Office apps.

HECK. YES.

[Linus_torvalds]

8 minutes ago, AluminiumTech said:

I'm hoping that if Office 2019 is Electron based that they'll finally make a Linux version of their Office apps.

MS hates linux more then i hate MS. Trus me i hate MS VERY MUCH! Making linux version of office apps will close the death of Windows. Some other programs will follow. Some people will transit to linux. More games will be made for linux. Many games already support linux natively and there is Proton too. So yeah linux started to be good desktop OS for anyone.

[lvh1]

1 hour ago, AluminiumTech said:

I'm hoping that if Office 2019 is Electron based that they'll finally make a Linux version of their Office apps.

Seems highly unlikely if you ask me as they would probably have to rewrite the entire thing, which doesn't seem like something MS would do.

[suicidalfranco]

now to kill UWP as a whole and be done with this BS

[AlTech]

33 minutes ago, lvh1 said:

Seems highly unlikely if you ask me as they would probably have to rewrite the entire thing, which doesn't seem like something MS would do.

If you read what I wrote then you'd see that they wouldn't have to re-write the whole thing.

 

Electron is cross-platform and they're already making Office 2019 using Electron anyways.

[LAwLz]

13 hours ago, mate_mate91 said:

MS hates linux more then i hate MS. Trus me i hate MS VERY MUCH! Making linux version of office apps will close the death of Windows. Some other programs will follow. Some people will transit to linux. More games will be made for linux. Many games already support linux natively and there is Proton too. So yeah linux started to be good desktop OS for anyone.

A few years ago I would have agreed, but these days it seems like Microsoft are more interested in selling services. I don't really think they care which platform you use Office on as long as you're using Office.

 

 

12 hours ago, lvh1 said:

Seems highly unlikely if you ask me as they would probably have to rewrite the entire thing, which doesn't seem like something MS would do.

If it's an Electron app then they can lift most if not all of the web-office code and use that.

On top of that, they probably had to rewrite large parts of it when they ported it to UWP, so it's not like they have shown hesitance to do it before.

[Arika]

14 hours ago, AluminiumTech said:

the death of Windows Phone and Windows 10 Tablets.

Do they not class the Surface pro as a tablet? i thought it was one of their biggest sellers?

[mr moose]

MS is one of those companies that can just throw money at things and see what sticks.  

[Arika]

18 hours ago, mate_mate91 said:

Making linux version of office apps will close the death of Windows.

 

You hate MS so much that you're delusional, ok got it.

 

You really think that the ONLY REASON that people dont jump to Linux is MS Office?

[AlTech]

5 hours ago, Arika S said:

Do they not class the Surface pro as a tablet? i thought it was one of their biggest sellers?

It doesn't sell that many units compared to other products on the market. It was never intended to be a great seller. They just wanted OEMs to make clones of it rather than the awful devices they were making before then.

[Ashleyyyy]

no efforts to make Office launch faster on macOS it seems. 

 

*cries in slow load times*

[Doobeedoo]

Well, shame that WP couldn't live up though. I mean maybe in future they give it a another go we'll see. 

Also Office '19 is out as a non-subscription package so they're not going Adobe like with sub only. 

[AlTech]

5 minutes ago, Doobeedoo said:

Well, shame that WP couldn't live up though. I mean maybe in future they give it a another go we'll see. 

Also Office '19 is out as a non-subscription package so they're not going Adobe like with sub only. 

They have basically confirmed this is the last perpetual office ever. And even Office 2019 won't get stuff that Office 365 will get.

[Doobeedoo]

7 minutes ago, AluminiumTech said:

They have basically confirmed this is the last perpetual office ever. And even Office 2019 won't get stuff that Office 365 will get.

Yeah true I know =/

Being last perpetual Office is a shame. They made it as a last stand in a way for companies and individuals that like that model more. 

I just hate subscription models for many things, like everything is going subscription based it's insane. 

[Linus_torvalds]

2 hours ago, Arika S said:

You really think that the ONLY REASON that people dont jump to Linux is MS Office?

No but many people have that argument when i suggest them linux. "But hey office does not work on linux". If office will be available on linux such people can swith to it.

[Drak3]

8 hours ago, Arika S said:

Do they not class the Surface pro as a tablet? i thought it was one of their biggest sellers?

As far as Office is concerned, tablets only run iOS, Android, or Windows RT/S.

[williamcll]

I missed old windows mobile.

 

They should just make a phone that runs Win10 IOT, can't be hard considering a 835 chip can run adobe photoshop PC without issues.

[Drak3]

1 minute ago, williamcll said:

I missed old windows mobile.

 

They should just make a phone that runs Win10 IOT, can't be hard considering a 835 chip can run adobe photoshop PC without issues.

Or fork Android.

[williamcll]

Just now, Drak3 said:

Or fork Android.

yeah but if I want android I just get a regular phone like the OP6 I'm using at the moment.

[Drak3]

Just now, williamcll said:

yeah but if I want android I just get a regular phone like the OP6 I'm using at the moment.

If MS forked Android, they'd be able to modify it to behave alot more like Windows Phone AND not suffer the issue of lack of developers offering apps on their platform.

[Commodus]

4 minutes ago, williamcll said:

I missed old windows mobile.

 

They should just make a phone that runs Win10 IOT, can't be hard considering a 835 chip can run adobe photoshop PC without issues.

It'd just face the same problems that Windows 10 Mobile and Windows Phone did: not enough native apps, and not much hardware support outside of Microsoft itself.  If the company were to jump back into mobile, it'd have to be a breakthrough that's clearly better than Android and iOS, not just a slight tweak on Windows 10.

[williamcll]

5 minutes ago, Drak3 said:

If MS forked Android, they'd be able to modify it to behave alot more like Windows Phone AND not suffer the issue of lack of developers offering apps on their platform.

 

2 minutes ago, Commodus said:

It'd just face the same problems that Windows 10 Mobile and Windows Phone did: not enough native apps, and not much hardware support outside of Microsoft itself.  If the company were to jump back into mobile, it'd have to be a breakthrough that's clearly better than Android and iOS, not just a slight tweak on Windows 10.

I remember that Win10 IOT supports x86 programs.

[Drak3]

Just now, williamcll said:

 

I remember that Win10 IOT supports x86 programs.

Unless you're using a phone that has Continuum, that wouldn't really matter.

[Unhelpful]

1 hour ago, mate_mate91 said:

No but many people have that argument when i suggest them linux. "But hey office does not work on linux". If office will be available on linux such people can swith to it.

No... No. Those people will switch to a different argument as to why they don't switch. Almost none of them will switch.