Running Office Web Apps on an iPad--almost (photos)
The browser-based versions of Microsoft Office are supposed to be view-only on mobile devices, but here's a look at what happens if you try to get the full versions to run on the tablet device.
Ina Fried
During her years at CNET News, Ina Fried changed beats several times, changed genders once, and covered both of the Pirates of Silicon Valley.
The browser-based versions of Microsoft Office are supposed to be view-only on mobile devices, but here's a look at what happens if you try to force the full versions to run on Apple's iPad.
I got 95 percent of the way toward opening the full Word Web App before the browser hung.
2 of 6 Ina Fried/CNET
Creating a new OneNote document
By clicking around various pages within Windows Live, I found some that had an option to click to switch to the "PC version" of the site. Doing so, and then navigating back to the Office tab allowed me to see what I could and could not force the iPad to do. One thing I was able to do was create a new OneNote notebook.
3 of 6 Ina Fried/CNET
No editing, though
While I managed to create a new notebook, I wasn't able to edit it.
4 of 6 Ina Fried/CNET
Excel on the iPad
Not only was I able to create a new Excel spreadsheet, but I was able to edit that document. (See next slide.)
5 of 6 Ina Fried/CNET
A basic spreadsheet
Here's the spreadsheet I created. It notes that only one of the four Web Apps fully works on the iPad, though all work on mobile devices in the limited view-only mode promised by Microsoft.
Creating and editing Office documents on an iPad is not supported, so it's not surprising it doesn't really work in the mobile version of Safari.
6 of 6 Ina Fried/CNET
PowerPoint on the iPad
Well, it's not like the world needed one more PowerPoint presentation anyway, but my effort to create a slideshow on the go didn't work either.
