Microsoft Office goes open; now available for free on Android and iPads

Microsoft has been at the fulcrum of digitizing productivity on devices like desktop PCs and now the company is hell-bent on taking the productivity experience to your smart devices across all platforms. The company has made its much eagerly awaited announcement of taking Office suite to Android and iOS ecosystem, which enables the company to broaden its user-base functioning out of smartphone and tablets.

"Today, we unveiled Office for iPad® - specifically Word, PowerPoint and Excel. But this isn't simply Office on another device. We thought a lot about what people want to do when they're on their tablet, iPad functionality, and touch-first when we were building Office for iPad. We reimagined Office on the iPad, while retaining what people love about Office," as per John Case, corporate vice president - Marketing, Microsoft Office on Microsoft's blog. 

What this basically means that Apple iPad with the added repertoire in the form of Microsoft Office, can stake its claim to become front-runner tablet for content generation purpose. You get all the basic Office suites: Word, Excel and PowerPoint among others that work just like your PC version with all the latest features, options and up-to-date versions. The company has notified that Office for iPad works on iOS 7 and above versions which clearly implies the vast product-line up support. You can download the Office Suite for iPad from App store.  

Another major development to take place from Office point of view is the decision to offer free Office Mobile app for Android devices. Office alternatives like KingSoft have served the users admirably over the year but with Office Mobile making its much vaunted appearance on Google Play store, Microsoft has made the right moves. You can download the Microsoft Office Mobile from Play store. This app is compatible with devices running on Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich and above.