11 ms·

Google makes Quickoffice for Android and iOS free for all

109 points by NewsFlash 13y ago

znowi 13y ago
Trying hard to counter-PR the NSA partnership :)
- devx 13y ago
  More like it was bound to happen just about now, and a year after they purchased it.
- anxiousest 13y ago
  I try to ignore trolls but some comments make me want to self harm.
sahaskatta 13y ago
After Apple began offering its office suite for free with all new iOS devices, Google's decision makes sense. However I now have both Google Drive and Quickoffice on my Android smart phone and tablet. These two products overlap a bit too much. They really ought to be a single app.
- JulianMorrison 13y ago
  And I am sure they will. "Works offline" has been a missing feature in Drive for ages.
  - josteink 13y ago
    The offline support which was added recently-ish in Drive has worked for me when I needed it, but I must admit I haven't been a very heavy user. Anything in particular I'm missing?
- stevewillows 13y ago
  With Keep involved, I now have three ways to make a grocery list.
- devx 13y ago
  If you press the Google Drive button in QuickOffice, it will basically show you what you have in Google Drive, just like the Google Drive app. But yeah, not sure why they're keeping the Drive app around then.
  - Blara 13y ago
    To edit old g-docs files, it's not possible with quickoffice yet (I assume they will switch to one app that can edit all formats instead)
  - snogglethorpe 13y ago
    Er, well, Google Drive is ... storage. I don't think of it as an "office app" at all, and it would frankly kind of bizarre to have to use QuickOffice to get at the various tar files, html files, image files, etc, that I've put into G.D.... If anything they should really just share components, with Google Drive invoking Q.O. document editors as appropriate, and maybe a Q.O. app remaining as a thin "office-oriented" frontend (whatever that means).
oridecon 13y ago
does it works with ODF files? is it fully compatible with libreoffice or are we getting boxed on closed formats again?
footpath 13y ago
Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't Quickoffice used to allow signing in from multiple services? I remember using an older version of Quickoffice that allowed logging in with Dropbox, SkyDrive, etc. while this new version appear to only work with Google accounts.
- ZoF 13y ago
  You're correct, Quickoffice did allow login from multiple sources in the past. Obviously Google would remove that feature as they now own Quickoffice, I would have been FAR more surprised if they kept it in.
wslh 13y ago
After reading about the Quickoffice acquisition I was waiting for this moment. Google Drive has more features in the web than as a native application on iOS and Android. Edit: it's me or Quickoffice is complete crap? I tried opening a document in Google Docs and it opens as PDF! then I created a new document and it doesn't have headings, just like the Google Drive application.
- ZoF 13y ago
  What kind of document did you open? A PDF??? It's working fine for me, .doc/.docx extensions open in QuickWord as expected.
  - wslh 13y ago
    A Google Drive document.
    - dragonwriter 13y ago
      If you read the app description, its for working with Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint files. Anything else is outside its domain. Its not a replacement for Google Docs for working with Google Docs native formats.
      - wslh 13y ago
        Beyond the downvote to my comment, I think the same complain will be amplified by a lot of people beyond if it's in the app description or not. Currently, with hundreds of applications installed on the PC and mobile devices nobody reads every app description, they just assume certain features. You can't RTFM for every application installed.
        dragonwriter 13y ago
        > You can't RTFM for every application installed. Reading the basic description of what an app is is not equivalent to reading a manual.
oscargrouch 13y ago
Whatever i see things like this, it reminds me the way the greeks used to see the gods.. as jokers messing around with humans, much like politicians do to us nowadays.. (cause this must be a joke from the gods) in the eighties the allmighty IBM get crushed by the rookie microsoft because it didnt see the new software wave comming.. and from this new market its arch-enemy was born now microsoft is falling into pieces, because microsoft in the nineties, didnt see the internet revolution comming (or was afraid to ask), and its killer born from it. google its not only taking what once was a market dominated by microsoft, but are dominating also in the internet arena.. and if you guys see well .. they have created a "internet as a platform", buying and acquiring all over the ones who create little niches in this BIG massive platform.. my question is.. it will have internet life outside of the google internet platform? and worst yet.. it will have life outside of the corporate internet the took all over? (the people who knew the internet in the beggining of times know what im talking about) before us all were considered products and advert targets?
- eksith 13y ago
  "coming". Also sentences should begin with a capital letter. Sorry, my OCD wouldn't allow me to absorb your otherwise well thought out post.
  - oscargrouch 13y ago
    Sorry about my english! i dont find bad being corrected since thats the only way i can learn with my mistakes? so no problem! thanks
    - eksith 13y ago
      No worries :) I agree with you that Google is moving into an area Microsoft used to be in with IBM, but I feel like Google, while it does nice things like this, is similarly going to the same location. There's nothing stopping from other companies from coming up with something similar; the problem for now is adoption. I'd like to find a document editor outside of the major competitors like Microsoft and Google, but to be honest, the others are frankly terrible by comparison. When that changes, at least in the document area, Google is going to rethink what they're doing or buy them out (which is also possible). The one thing that ties all of these services together for now is Gmail. Because it serves as a single login, it makes transition to other Google owned products easier. Besides being good at the services they provide, this is the real grease in the wheels that makes the whole machine run. We're already seeing other services crop up to fill the niche YouTube is filling. Vimeo, for example, is actually quite good. While it doesn't have a lot of the silly videos and stupid clips YouTube is famous for, it's got a lot of creative people making beautiful content. But tying Vimeo to a document editing platform? We're not quite there yet.
nonchalance 13y ago
In the age of HTML5 Touch events and websockets, I was hoping to see a web-based office suite. I guess google settled on the native app route.
- yareally 13y ago
  Latency on mobile for editing would be kind of sketchy much of the time I would think. Maybe not so bad on wifi, but elsewhere you're lucky to get pings that are sub 200ms on 3G networks. Also, the stock browser on Android (the non Chrome one) and also the one built into Android Webviews in apps has no websocket support.
deleted 13y ago
[deleted]

109 points by NewsFlash 13y ago

znowi 13y ago

Trying hard to counter-PR the NSA partnership :)

devx 13y ago
More like it was bound to happen just about now, and a year after they purchased it.
anxiousest 13y ago
I try to ignore trolls but some comments make me want to self harm.

sahaskatta 13y ago

After Apple began offering its office suite for free with all new iOS devices, Google's decision makes sense. However I now have both Google Drive and Quickoffice on my Android smart phone and tablet. These two products overlap a bit too much. They really ought to be a single app.

JulianMorrison 13y ago
And I am sure they will. "Works offline" has been a missing feature in Drive for ages.
- josteink 13y ago
  The offline support which was added recently-ish in Drive has worked for me when I needed it, but I must admit I haven't been a very heavy user. Anything in particular I'm missing?
stevewillows 13y ago
With Keep involved, I now have three ways to make a grocery list.
devx 13y ago
If you press the Google Drive button in QuickOffice, it will basically show you what you have in Google Drive, just like the Google Drive app. But yeah, not sure why they're keeping the Drive app around then.
- Blara 13y ago
  To edit old g-docs files, it's not possible with quickoffice yet (I assume they will switch to one app that can edit all formats instead)
- snogglethorpe 13y ago
  Er, well, Google Drive is ... storage. I don't think of it as an "office app" at all, and it would frankly kind of bizarre to have to use QuickOffice to get at the various tar files, html files, image files, etc, that I've put into G.D.... If anything they should really just share components, with Google Drive invoking Q.O. document editors as appropriate, and maybe a Q.O. app remaining as a thin "office-oriented" frontend (whatever that means).

oridecon 13y ago

does it works with ODF files? is it fully compatible with libreoffice or are we getting boxed on closed formats again?

footpath 13y ago

Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't Quickoffice used to allow signing in from multiple services? I remember using an older version of Quickoffice that allowed logging in with Dropbox, SkyDrive, etc. while this new version appear to only work with Google accounts.

ZoF 13y ago
You're correct, Quickoffice did allow login from multiple sources in the past. Obviously Google would remove that feature as they now own Quickoffice, I would have been FAR more surprised if they kept it in.

wslh 13y ago

After reading about the Quickoffice acquisition I was waiting for this moment. Google Drive has more features in the web than as a native application on iOS and Android. Edit: it's me or Quickoffice is complete crap? I tried opening a document in Google Docs and it opens as PDF! then I created a new document and it doesn't have headings, just like the Google Drive application.

ZoF 13y ago
What kind of document did you open? A PDF??? It's working fine for me, .doc/.docx extensions open in QuickWord as expected.
- wslh 13y ago
  A Google Drive document.
  - dragonwriter 13y ago
    If you read the app description, its for working with Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint files. Anything else is outside its domain. Its not a replacement for Google Docs for working with Google Docs native formats.
    - wslh 13y ago
      Beyond the downvote to my comment, I think the same complain will be amplified by a lot of people beyond if it's in the app description or not. Currently, with hundreds of applications installed on the PC and mobile devices nobody reads every app description, they just assume certain features. You can't RTFM for every application installed.
      - dragonwriter 13y ago
        > You can't RTFM for every application installed. Reading the basic description of what an app is is not equivalent to reading a manual.

oscargrouch 13y ago

Whatever i see things like this, it reminds me the way the greeks used to see the gods.. as jokers messing around with humans, much like politicians do to us nowadays.. (cause this must be a joke from the gods) in the eighties the allmighty IBM get crushed by the rookie microsoft because it didnt see the new software wave comming.. and from this new market its arch-enemy was born now microsoft is falling into pieces, because microsoft in the nineties, didnt see the internet revolution comming (or was afraid to ask), and its killer born from it. google its not only taking what once was a market dominated by microsoft, but are dominating also in the internet arena.. and if you guys see well .. they have created a "internet as a platform", buying and acquiring all over the ones who create little niches in this BIG massive platform.. my question is.. it will have internet life outside of the google internet platform? and worst yet.. it will have life outside of the corporate internet the took all over? (the people who knew the internet in the beggining of times know what im talking about) before us all were considered products and advert targets?

eksith 13y ago
"coming". Also sentences should begin with a capital letter. Sorry, my OCD wouldn't allow me to absorb your otherwise well thought out post.
- oscargrouch 13y ago
  Sorry about my english! i dont find bad being corrected since thats the only way i can learn with my mistakes? so no problem! thanks
  - eksith 13y ago
    No worries :) I agree with you that Google is moving into an area Microsoft used to be in with IBM, but I feel like Google, while it does nice things like this, is similarly going to the same location. There's nothing stopping from other companies from coming up with something similar; the problem for now is adoption. I'd like to find a document editor outside of the major competitors like Microsoft and Google, but to be honest, the others are frankly terrible by comparison. When that changes, at least in the document area, Google is going to rethink what they're doing or buy them out (which is also possible). The one thing that ties all of these services together for now is Gmail. Because it serves as a single login, it makes transition to other Google owned products easier. Besides being good at the services they provide, this is the real grease in the wheels that makes the whole machine run. We're already seeing other services crop up to fill the niche YouTube is filling. Vimeo, for example, is actually quite good. While it doesn't have a lot of the silly videos and stupid clips YouTube is famous for, it's got a lot of creative people making beautiful content. But tying Vimeo to a document editing platform? We're not quite there yet.

nonchalance 13y ago

In the age of HTML5 Touch events and websockets, I was hoping to see a web-based office suite. I guess google settled on the native app route.

yareally 13y ago
Latency on mobile for editing would be kind of sketchy much of the time I would think. Maybe not so bad on wifi, but elsewhere you're lucky to get pings that are sub 200ms on 3G networks. Also, the stock browser on Android (the non Chrome one) and also the one built into Android Webviews in apps has no websocket support.

deleted 13y ago

[deleted]