MacWorld e-mail on ms apps had a rebuttal saying iwork now free, but the app store shows it at $30 for the 3 apps, so what's the story?

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MacWorld e-mail on ms apps had a rebuttal saying iwork now free, but the app store shows it at $30 for the 3 apps, so what's the story?

So I got my Mac World e-mail, it talked about the free apps from MS (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote), so I downloaded them, in the comments section of the article someone that didn't like them said there was no need as iWork was free and no subscription needed.

Anyway, after letting the ad for MS 360 play out, word opened, but it wouldn't let me access my skydrive, now called onedrive, it was grayed out and needed the 360 subscription, needless to say I deleted all of the office apps and based on the comments section of the article I went back to the app store to get iWork.

They are not free, each app is $9.99, according to the app store, so tell me is there something I'm missing, there were others saying it was free, so what is the truth here?

Currently I use Textilus for creating documents, well one or two, writing on the ipad is horrible, and it still doesn't recognize my printer or any documents I save in Textilus. I have to save the page as a picture, open up the Epson app, select photos, and print.

I was hoping something useful would be available, but it looks like that's not going to happen.

iPad 2 Wi-Fi, iOS 7.1

Posted on Mar 31, 2014 5:25 AM

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Answer 1

Mar 31, 2014 6:22 AM in response to WVL57

Beginning last September (I beleive) the three iWorks app are free only for qualifying newly purchased devices (http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5913)

And yes, on the iPad, MS office apps can only be used to read files unless you have an Office 365 subscription.

Can't respnd to what Textilus does or doesn't do when it comes to printing. That might be a question for the app vendor.

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Answer 2

WVL57 Author

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Mar 31, 2014 7:20 AM in response to Kilgore-Trout

Thanks, that clears up the free part. I understood going in that you could only look, but since I save locally and to my skydrive, that would be okay as I could pull it from the sky, but it won't let you, you have to purchase the 360 rental to get to the drive, so that's a no go. Plus I wanted the ability to open MS files sent via e-mail, so if all of that is blocked it really makes those apps worthless, which I guess is why they were free.

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Answer 3

Mar 31, 2014 7:33 AM in response to WVL57

You can access files from OneDrive (Skydrive), but no, you cannot write to it. You can also open a email attachment in the apps (and email a file as an attachment) but not actually save it once it is there. Without an Office 365 account, the apps are simply viewers will little other value.

Microsoft's business approach is apprarently to use the iOS app as a means of marketing Office 365 accounts (at $99/year, I beleive). For personal use, for me, that will happen when **** freezes over. I may be forced to do so for work at some point. Hard to say.

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Answer 4

WVL57 Author

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Mar 31, 2014 10:56 AM in response to Kilgore-Trout

I'll just live without them, like I said the OneDrive and the option below it were grayed out and I wasn't going to jump through hoops to use them.

Thank you for all of your feedback on this issue, I appreciate it.

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Answer 5

Mar 31, 2014 11:10 AM in response to WVL57

You're welcome

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