[schlammuuagar]

I think having MS Office available for the Playbook would be great for the playbook. After all it's pretending to be a business tool.

However, that doesn't look like it's coming anytime soon:

Microsoft's plan for bringing its BI tools to iOS, Android, and Windows 8 devices | ZDNet

I would love to see MS Office on the Playbook, as it would help it's credibility in the enterprise.

[AugustArborists]

That and being able to print easily.

[Cleanton]

There is already Doc's to go for Blackberry Playbook. Isn't enough? I think it is.

[_StephenBB81]

There have been some great threads about Office on the PlayBook.

Looking at that link, and following a little more, it looks like all Microsoft is doing is making their online services available to other platforms, so no offline support for Office on those devices

and In my Opinion it is OFFLINE support for MS office that the PlayBook truly needs.

[schlammuuagar]

There is already Doc's to go for Blackberry Playbook. Isn't enough? I think it is.

It's a marketing strategy. MS Office is easily the best selling "office" suite in the world. People know the name, and the brand. To say that your device is running MS Office is a great marketing presence.

"Doc's to Go" is nice, and you get what you pay for... but it's no "Word"

[schlammuuagar]

There have been some great threads about Office on the PlayBook.

Looking at that link, and following a little more, it looks like all Microsoft is doing is making their online services available to other platforms, so no offline support for Office on those devices

and In my Opinion it is OFFLINE support for MS office that the PlayBook truly needs.

Good point, I think MS will keep that feature to their Windows 8 tablets... They will need a selling point to seamless merge the desktop and tablet...

[Daeve]

There is already Doc's to go for Blackberry Playbook. Isn't enough? I think it is.

Presentation mode on the PB is screaming out for full powerpoint functionality that is not in Doc's to go. My animations don't work.

[Thachoc1]

Honestly, I don't think it would help anyway. People would just find something else to complain about. It would be nice to have, but in the end the nay-sayers would continue like a plague of locusts!

[Cleanton]

It's a marketing strategy. MS Office is easily the best selling "office" suite in the world. People know the name, and the brand. To say that your device is running MS Office is a great marketing presence.

"Doc's to Go" is nice, and you get what you pay for... but it's no "Word"

It would be nice if there would be MS Office for Playbook. But we don't even have an auto text yet how do you expect MS Office. ))

[96Ag]

With MS Office and a bluetooth keyboard I might ditch my laptop. Now if I could just get the VPN to allow me access to our internal PO system, I wouldn't need the laptop.

[MrBugMan]

I would expect a fuller version of docs to go in 2.0. Huge fail if not. Current version is worse than most smart phones. Clearly not intended to stay that way. Edit capable power point is badly needed as well. I am banking on it. I plan to insert photos into pre made presentations for my customers to view. I will then email a pdf version. This I currently do with my HP 500 Slate. The HP has terrible outdoor screen for taking pictures. I agree with other postings that MS will be holding back mobile versions of office for use only on their devices. Windows8 Could be an iPad killer, doubtful MS can pull it off though.

[Linegod]

Libreoffice would make a lot more sense to me RIM could just roll it themselves.

[anthogag]

I don't see why Office would need to be on Playbook. Why do you want to do everything from one device. You simply need a bigger screen for such stuff. Documents to go with more features would be good enough for me.

We still have our desktop computers for the heavy lifting. I can see the Playbook replacing the laptop because when I owned a laptop I typically did things I do on the Playbook now.

[bpgui]

There is already Doc's to go for Blackberry Playbook. Isn't enough? I think it is.

Nope. The spreadsheet app is pretty much unusable.

[_StephenBB81]

Libreoffice would make a lot more sense to me RIM could just roll it themselves.

LibreOffice is worse than Documents to Go for Office 2007/2010 docx files No company worth their salt would be putting out documents in LibreOffice, they never print well when sending them to MS Office users, and MS Office users are the majority

[_StephenBB81]

I don't see why Office would need to be on Playbook. Why do you want to do everything from one device. You simply need a bigger screen for such stuff. Documents to go with more features would be good enough for me.

We still have our desktop computers for the heavy lifting. I can see the Playbook replacing the laptop because when I owned a laptop I typically did things I do on the Playbook now.

Right now about 80% of my PlayBook use is Sheets To Go and Docs to Go,

With MS Office on the PlayBook assuming it would be a functional suite I would be able to view 2 Excel files at the same time with locked scrolling, I would get my Ribbon which on the touchscreen would be very nice, I would get to actually format excel sheets, and know they are going to print like I planned.

I live out of a laptop bag, If I would replace my laptop with the PlayBook for day to day tasks it would be awesome! and only need the laptop on Monday's and Fridays for heavy work.

[ph03n1x]

i personally like docs to go but as a marketing tool that might b a good idea

[LiteBulb]

IMO, fully working MS office suite will make the PB kickass, at least in the "professional-tablet" term. when i say fully working, it means a true suite, not some washed down with limited capabilities.

[anthogag]

You don't need full-on Office to view an Office doc on the Playbook. I personally don't want complications on the Playbook, the Playbook is so easy to use and working with larger files on a smaller screen would drive me crazy and insane.

A feature like viewing more than two spreadsheet files at the same time in a coordinated way is a basic editing feature that should be in the upcoming update to Docs to Go and if you use the Playbook for a lot of daily spreadsheet work then this is the time to step back and say how can I make spreadsheets smaller, less cluttered, and a joy to use on this device. For example, when you make a spreadsheet on your desktop, make the application window the size of the Playbook.

[bpgui]

You don't need full-on Office to view an Office doc on the Playbook. I personally don't want complications on the Playbook, the Playbook is so easy to use and working with larger files on a smaller screen would drive me crazy and insane.

But we need a full-on office suite to CREATE and EDIT office docs professionally.

A feature like viewing more than two spreadsheet files at the same time in a coordinated way is a basic editing feature that should be in the upcoming update to Docs to Go and if you use the Playbook for a lot of daily spreadsheet work then this is the time to step back and say how can I make spreadsheets smaller, less cluttered, and a joy to use on this device. For example, when you make a spreadsheet on your desktop, make the application window the size of the Playbook.

So we should have to design our spreadsheets around the playbook??? What if we're sending the spreadsheet to someone else who uses a computer to view it and wonders why it is so small? That's not going to look very professional. Sorry, not going to do that. Plus in general, I need more column/rows than display on the playbook screen. That doesn't bother me. I am fine scrolling. What bothers me is that Doc to Go on the playbook destroys the formatting of the spreadsheet, and lacks many of the functions of normal spreadsheet programs.

[3Athlete]

I would love to see a full office sweet for the playbook. Over the past month I have found myself on numerous occasions wanting more office features present in the docs to go arena. Higher functionality with the spreadsheet program is a huge point.

[anthogag]

If you have to scroll around a large spreadsheet with your finger, zooming in and out, your going to throw your Playbook out the window and run to the hills screaming.

The Playbook shouldn't be your main tool for working with spreadsheets if you won't adapt.

Look at today's DEVCON demo where that one app took all the communication information from contacts and made it pictorial, stretching and sliding information.

[bpgui]

If you have to scroll around a large spreadsheet with your finger, zooming in and out, your going to throw your Playbook out the window and run to the hills screaming.

Scrolling is fine by me. I've already said that. Not having a functional spreadsheet app is not.

The Playbook shouldn't be your main tool for working with spreadsheets if you won't adapt.

It isn't my main tool for working with spreadsheets, but I should be able to work with one on it when I need to. Currently I can't because it destroys the formatting. That is a problem.