The reason I suspect this news might not excite some is that the iPad currently has a number of very good Office-compatible document editing options from third-party developers. There’s QuickOffice, for instance, and Documents to Go. Both offer Word, PowerPoint and Excel file editing, creation and exporting abilities, and both perform well, coming from developers with a long history of doing document editing on mobile platforms. Then there’s Apple’s own iWork suite for iPad, which is also capable of handling Microsoft files via import.

A Microsoft solution would have the advantage of working natively with Office files in the way the company that created them intended, however. That would mean no minor formatting oddities to occasionally iron out when you shift back to Office, and maybe even tight, wireless integration with Office on the Mac or PC, as well as Office 365 on the web.

The Daily says the cost for official Office iPad apps would be somewhere around the $10 mark Apple currently charges for its iWork titles, which would be a refreshing change from the often high price tags found on its desktop offerings. But for me at least, an official Office app would have to be a lot better than the competition in terms of its mobile interface before I’d be willing to drop the third-party solutions. What about you?

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In the interest of full disclosure, I’m not what you’d call an Excel power user. I use it for general invoicing, some light data analysis and general spreadsheet stuff. I recently had to perform an extensive document review, and Excel was the easiest way to track what the current state of each document was, and sort it based on criteria. I’ve never dealt much with pivot tables, and only occasionally missed VB macros. Disclaimer aside, here’s what I thought of the new version:

Look and Feel

Excel 2011 brings in the ribbon interface. As I mentioned in my look at Word 2011, I actually like it. The Windows version of the ribbon I found to be much more panic-inducing because it pretty much gets rid of all the menu bars. Not so on OS X; you get to have your cake and eat it, too.

The ribbon actually takes up less overall room than its equivalent in Excel 2008. The screenshot below shows the Excel 2008 on the left, and Excel 2011 on the right. You can also minimize the ribbon by single-clicking on a tab header. If you don’t like it, you never even have to see the thing. It’s definitely nice to have the option, either way.

Show Me The Money: Getting Your Work Done

Overall, Excel 2011 feels much more responsive than 2008. For starters, I can now launch the app without being able to microwave popcorn before it fully loads. I did notice some sluggishness when it loaded the template chooser, but you can easily skip that screen. Speaking of templates, while I found the supplied Word templates weren’t that special, I was impressed with those supplied in Excel. There are a few (invoices and general finance) I can actually use, a first for Office.

One interesting new feature is Sparklines. Basically, Sparklines is a handy way to trend data. In the screenshot below, we’re tracking quarterly sales by region. The in-cell chart is a Sparkline showing the trending data. We can tell at a glance that the Boston region is doing quite well, while the manager of the Los Angeles region might want to shop his resume. You can set a Sparkline to be a line, bar, or win-loss chart. I can see using it to trend my freelance business.

Conditional formatting is much improved in 2011. Put simply, conditional formatting allows you to set rules to highlight cells that meet a given criteria. Keeping with the sales data, I can set up a condition to highlight any cell with a number less than 100.

There’s a couple of weird gotchas, though. When I opened the document review spreadsheet I mentioned earlier, I wanted it to show me documents that had been modified during a specific date range. While you can choose “dates occurring” from a pull-down, it’s a fairly narrow range. Instead, I had to set the cell data range in a separate pulldown. It’d be nice if there was an option to set that range right in the “dates occurring” section. Still, the older version of Excel was much more limited, so these improvements are welcome.

One cause for complaint in the new version of Excel is the lack of support for Snow Leopard services. In my Word article, I mentioned how happy I was that Word handled these well, but sadly, the same can’t be said for Excel 201. Highlighting a section of text and choosing Services just gives you a grayed-out “No services apply.” I believe this is due to the Carbon underpinnings of Excel, as it seems Services require the app to be programmed in Cocoa. Whatever the reason, it’s a shame it’s not in there.

Back to the Macro

Thankfully, Visual Basic macros are back. As I said, I’ve never been a big VB user, but the lack of them really messed up Windows compatibility.  While I never created them, I’d get enough spreadsheets containing them to shake my fist in Redmond’s direction whenever I tried to open sheets in Excel 2008. It’s nice to see things are back to normal.

Closing the Books

I’m pretty happy with Excel 2011. The interface is cleaner, and I didn’t notice some of the slowdowns other reviewers have mentioned, but the largest sheet I opened was about 1000 lines. Sparklines, corny name aside, seems like a good, albeit situational feature. I’m happier with the improvements to conditional formatting. The big reason to upgrade, though, is the return of Visual Basic macros. It’s hard to praise that return too much, though, since it really feels like we’re paying a premium just to get an old feature back.

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Office for Mac 2011 looks to break that track record, and we won’t have to wait long to find out if it does. The official Office for Mac blog announced yesterday that the new version will be available for purchase starting Oct. 26, roughly a month from now. You can pre-order your copy now at Amazon, as well.

Among the new features is Dynamic Reorder, which allows you to reorder the layers in a document or presentation on the fly easily, something that came out of user feedback. Microsoft is also clearly paying attention to usage trends, since it also introduced a new Full Screen view that mimics much simpler products like WriteRoom that are designed to take the distractions out of writing. All you see is a white page on a black screen.

I’ve had a chance to test out the beta version of Office 2011, and I have to say that my early impressions are overwhelmingly positive. I haven’t had cause to jump into my Boot Camp partition since installing it, for instance (except to play Civilization V, but that’s a totally different post).

Office 2011 also sees the arrival of the Ribbon, Microsoft’s new navigation scheme for the productivity suite. It’s a welcome addition, since I always found using the floating formatting window really counter-intuitive and generally frustrating.

Menu and interface improvements aside, Office 2011, even in beta form, offers tremendous improvement in terms of stability and performance. I haven’t had it crash on me yet, and it opens and loads much faster than Office 2008. At the very least, the impression of intentional hobbling on Microsoft’s part is definitely gone.

While I’m probably going to stick with iWork as my main productivity suite, since my end products usually take the form of PDFs and I like their fancy-pants templates, I’ll actually be glad to get my hands on the final version of Office 2011, for those times when Apple’s offering isn’t an option.

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The iBusiness is most definitely “the business.” The German-engineered, four-seater luxury sedan is the type of car for people who have drivers, and that’s a very good thing, because there’s no chance you’ll be paying much attention to the road in one of these babies unless you’re being paid to.

Each car comes packed to the gills with outstanding multimedia capabilities, including two iPads in the rear seats with matching Bluetooth keyboards for each. The iPads are capable of controlling every aspect of the S600′s COMAND system, including the radio, navigation system and telephone, in addition to BRABUS’ own custom multimedia functions. Don’t think you’ll be limited to offline or 3G use, either, because the car boasts its own wireless internet via UMTS and HSDPA connections.

As if that wasn’t enough, there’s also a Mac mini in the back seat that uses a drop-down 15.2-inch TFT display, Magic Mouse and USB 2.0 ports accessible to both passengers for real computing power. Finally, because you wouldn’t want to use iTunes on the Mac mini or the iPod apps on your two iPads, there’s a 64GB iPod touch in the center console that also controls the whole shebang using a custom BRABUS iOS application.

I couldn’t find any info with regard to pricing, but you can bet it’s going to be more than most of us can afford. The good news is, if you already have a Mercedes-Benz s600, BRABUS will install its custom iBusiness package for you, at a fraction of the cost, but still well beyond the reach of most ordinary mortals. So, anyone picking one of these up?

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If all you want is iWork files primarily on your iPad, no need to look beyond the iWork Suite for the iPad. However, iPhone users have been working with their spreadsheets, documents, and presentations in the cloud for a while with the iPhone versions of Documents To Go and Quickoffice and got used to not being locked into the iWork file format. Now that the iPad versions of these apps are finally out, which one is right for you? Let’s review the features first.

Documents To Go

Documents to Go for the iPhone was recently updated to support the iPad. Previous owners merely need to update and have full functionality on both devices. Two versions exist: Documents To Go and Documents To Go Premium. The Premium version adds support for cloud computing as well as presentations.

To sync with your computer, Documents To Go provides a desktop application for Windows and Mac that allows you to transfer files to and from your iPad over your Wi-Fi network without actually having to connect your computer to iTunes. The premium cloud support includes Google, MobileMe, Dropbox, Box.net and SugarSync. While you can use multiple cloud accounts, you cannot customize the names.

Quickoffice HD

Unlike Documents To Go, this is a separate iPad app. Quickoffice Connect Mobile Suite for iPad is focused exclusively on the cloud, but does allow uploading files to your iPad via a web interface. Access to files on Google, MobileMe, Dropbox, and Box.net are all included. Unlike Documents To Go, SugarSync support is not included. Quickoffice has support for password protection as well as customizing the cloud account names.

Feature Comparisons

Both programs access files from the cloud and are integrated with the Dropbox iPad app to allow direct transfer of files to either Documents To Go or Quickoffice. However, Quickoffice does a more fluid job of accessing the cloud by connecting automatically in the background and quickly giving you access. Documents To Go, on the other hand, requires you to manually sync, refreshing your cloud file listing in the foreground and preventing you from doing anything else while the sync is underway. Additionally, it didn’t respect Google’s hidden documents so I literally had to scroll through hundreds of hidden files. At least Documents To Go remembered recent files making subsequent visits to the app slightly less painful.

Editing and navigating files in Quickoffice seemed more like a desktop app. For example, spreadsheets retained page tabs at the bottom in Quickoffice while in Documents To Go I had to access the toolbar at the bottom and then choose which tab to activate. PDFs in Documents To Go do not allow scrolling in the document; you have to manually turn each page. Documents To Go also had a cryptic and unintuitive toolbar at the bottom (see example below).

Of the two programs, Documents To Go did do a better job of retaining the file formatting of the original document. Neither program did a 100 percent perfect job of retaining all formatting, though. Slight errors regarding font styles and sizing as well as spacing developed. I consider these problems minor since I see the primarily goal of editing on your iPad to be data entry and manipulation, not the look and feel of the document.

Verdict

For value, Documents To Go is an ideal choice. You can have access to your files on the iPhone and iPad with just one app. You can upgrade within the app to the Premium version for an extra $5 to get the presentation and cloud access. Users of SugarSync will have to choose this app if they want access via their iPad.

For most iPad users, Quickoffice is the better choice. Easy-to-use cloud support and quick loading of your files allows for fast editing while Documents To Go painfully makes you wait to sync back and forth. Be prepared for some quirkiness in formatting going back and forth between other apps, but otherwise you’ll have a user experience nearly identical to your desktop or web-based applications for spreadsheets, presentations and word processing.

And, yes, this article was written in both Documents to Go and Quickoffice on my iPad. I ultimately finished it with Quickoffice.

What’s your iPad office suite of choice?

Like other iPad applications, Pages is fast. Loading almost instantly, the first thing you’ll see is a Welcome document, ironically created in Pages itself. The My Documents is area where you’ll see all of your synced documents, accessible by flicking left or right. It seems like managing a large number of documents in this area could be cumbersome, so it will be interesting to see how Apple addresses this UI concern with future versions. There’s also options here for exporting documents to iWork.com or email, deleting documents and importing new documents.

Creating a new document is simple as well, though you are limited to 15 templates besides a blank document. I’m honestly surprised Apple hasn’t brought over the full arsenal of templates.

Navigating around Pages is quite simple. In portrait mode, you’ll have a menu bar across the top with quick access to My Documents, an Undo button as well as an Inspector, Media, Settings and a Full Screen option.

Cool Pages Tip: Tap and hold the Undo button to initiate a Redo.

Tapping the lighter colored bar beneath the toolbar will present you with a traditional ruler, justification options and options to make your type bold, italicized or underlined. Landscape mode is primarily used for creating content in your document, so the toolbar remains hidden.

The Inspector

The Inspector provides an additional method for adjusting alignment, support for columns (limited to 4) and line spacing (limited to quarter line increments). In this view there are also options for formatting lists and applying (but not redefining) the default styles for titles, headings and subheadings. This particular view also changes, depending on what content you are editing. For example, if you’ve tapped a table and then open the Inspector, you’ll see related options here.

Media Browser

The Media Browser functions similar to the desktop version, showing photos and videos that have been synced to the iPad via iTunes. Unfortunately, none of my TV shows or movies were accessible through here, even the ones that aren’t restricted with iTunes DRM.

Options for tables, charts and shapes are included as well, allowing a user to select from a wide variety of default looks, then allowing them to use the Inspector to further fine tune them. Manipulating objects is very user friendly by just tapping and interacting as you would be naturally inclined to do. Tap two fingers on an object, pause and rotate your fingers to rotate an object. It’s simple.

Fine Tuning

Document Setup mode allows you to format your document with custom dimensions simply by tapping a margin and dragging it. You can also set watermark images as well as format the header or footer of your document. Unfortunately, documents are limited to a size of either US Letter (8.5 x 11) or A4 (8.27 x 11.69). There were no apparent options for adjusting the orientation to landscape.

Selecting text works the same as it does on Pages for the desktop, except you’re using finger taps instead of mouse clicks. Double tapping a word will select it while triple tapping will select the entire paragraph. In the pop-up menu, you have your usual options for copying the content as well as the option to copy the style if you wish to copy and paste formatting styles between areas. There is also an option to define the word you’ve selected.

Other options include a traditional spell checker which functions just like the desktop counterpart by underlining the misspelled word, allowing a user to tap and see a suggested replacement.

Syncing Files with Pages

Contrary to original rumors that suggested the iPad would mount a folder and allow for easy syncing of documents, you have to sync specific documents to the iPad through iTunes. Undoubtedly Apple realizes that this process is quite cumbersome and hopefully future iterations of iTunes or iPad software will make this process easier.

Pages documents that you receive through Mail on the iPad or browsed via iWork.com can be opened, saved and edited within Pages. Conversely, documents created in Pages can be exported and sent via Mail or uploaded to iWork.com in addition to being synced back through iTunes.

The Downside

Pages on the iPad is a great application, but it’s not without its share of missing features and limitations. Unfortunately, Pages is limited to a rather small collection of typefaces. While there’s still enough to create content that is unique, the lack of support for adding your own typefaces means Pages won’t let you easily move any document from your Mac and see the exact same thing on your iPad. In fact, you’ll get document warnings if you try and open a file that includes a typeface that your iPad is missing. This is an issue that Apple needs to address before people really begin to consider the iPad as “the laptop replacement.”

Additionally, more advanced features of Pages are missing. Here’s a quick list of some of the features that aren’t present.

• Inserting Table of Contents & Footnotes
• Inserting Section or Layout Breaks
• Inserting Merge Fields
• Tracking Changes
• Saving as Templates
• Adjusting Styles
• Adjusting Type (Tracking, Ligatures, Baseline, Capitalization)
• Printing
• Document Statistics (Word Count, Number of Pages, Page Location)

Pages is a very functional app but for those who really wanted it to replace the desktop version, you’ll be desiring a more featured packed update from Apple. Originally I’d planned to use the mobile version to put the finishing touches on documents (if I’m on the go) but it looks like the best workflow is to create your documents on the iPad and apply finishing touches when you are back on a Mac.

One last little bit to note about this application, and everyone is mixed on this, but typing on the iPad keyboard, even in landscape mode is still awkward. Personally, I’m comfortable with the full size keyboard layout on my Mac and so I find myself aiming for certain keys that just aren’t there. I strongly recommend investing in the bluetooth keyboard if you’re planning to use Pages or any of the other iWork apps on the iPad.

Check out our gallery of Pages below. Have you used Pages for the iPad? What are your thoughts?

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Microsoft recently announced its plans for Office 2010 — although the scant details make me think this was really just a “No, no, don’t go use the Exchange features in Snow Leopard; we’ve got you covered” move. Which begs the question: Does Apple still need Office for the Mac, like they did 12 years ago?

No, of course not. They have iWork and online services like Google Docs and Zoho. But I need it.

I can imagine myself staying in Apple’s Romper Room, only using iWork and iLife, only as long as I never, ever need to exchange files or collaborate with another person. Like it or not, Office and especially the .doc file structure has become the industry standard. The better I can adhere to that standard, without jumping through a ton of hoops, the easier my life is. Sure, I can print to PDF, but that’s hard to collaborate from.

That’s not to say I’m a slave to Microsoft. For simple layout I use Pages; Numbers is an acceptable spreadsheet; and Keynote is a totally kicking presentation program. When I write fiction, I use Scrivener. For my work at TheAppleBlog, I can use any sort of text editor I want. However, when I need to exchange files with other people — especially if I want them to make in-line comments or changes — I will default to the Office suite for the sake of simplicity, even for complicated files transfer without any noticeable issues between the PC and Mac versions of Word.

As much as I love hearing about Apple’s plans, and its commitment to OS X at keynotes, as a frequent user of Microsoft Office, in many ways I look forward to the affirmation that Office for the Mac’s development isn’t lagging too far behind its PC counterpart.

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So far we’ve had to sit back and watch while Office 2010 news for PC users rolled in, but the MacBU over at Microsoft has finally come through with details of when and what Mac users can expect regarding the industry-dominating productivity suite, announced at a press conference this morning. They also detailed some changes to the existing Office 2008, or at least to the way it’s sold, to tide us over.

First, the changes to 2008 will include a reduction in retail SKUs from three to two, a Home/Student Edition and a Business Edition. The new Business Edition will include Entourage Web Services Edition, MS Document Connection, additional templates and clip art, and some Lynda.com training sessions. This new pack will cost $399 and be available September 15, while the Home/Student Edition will continue to retail for $149.

Not much was revealed about the next version of Office, which has a target launch date of 2010′s holiday season, but the MacBU did drop one major bomb on Apple users. Entourage, the email application currently bundled with Mac Office, will be replaced by Outlook, a move which probably has IT departments everywhere who support a Mac/PC hybrid work environment jumping for joy. It still wont’ be exactly the same as Outlook for the PC, but it will support a greater range of Exchange features, including public calendars.

The new Outlook will also be a native Cocoa application, which should bode well for Mac integration, and sport a brand new database that includes support for Spotlight indexing and Time Machine backup. Outlook for Mac will also sport Information Rights Management, which should make sure that only recipients who have permission to access rights-managed content actually get to see or use it. Finally, it’ll also be able to sync tasks and notes.

Developers and advanced Office users will also be pleased to learn that Visual Basic for Applications, which wasn’t included in Office 2008. Microsoft received harsh criticism for the omission of VBA, which makes it relatively easy to add customization options such as menus and dialogs, and create macros to simplify tasks. MacBU group product manager Kurt Schmucker explained that user response factored heavily in their decision to re-introduce VBA support, saying “we know [VBA] is important to a section of our user base who needs cross platform compatibility, and we’re bringing that back.” VBA was left out of Office 2008 because of the difficulty in upgrading the software for Intel-based machines.

No word yet on any prospective pricing, naming or specific release dates for the next version of Office for Mac. I imagine some kind of upgrade pricing will be available, and it’s probably safe to assume that the pricing structure will closely resemble that of the 2008 suites. That is, if they’re allowed to sell it at all.

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Apple is constantly fighting a losing battle with jailbreakers on the hardware and software front, issuing updates that are quickly analyzed and broken by the Dev Team and other highly motivated individuals.

Recently, they’ve been trying to cut off the jailbreak community from another angle: by making it illegal to unofficially alter their handsets. In order to get the U.S. Copyright Office to see things their way, they told them recently (PDF) that the act of jailbreaking could actually cause transmission towers to fail.

I’m pretty confident that this is little more than a sensationalist scare tactic on Apple’s part, but the accusations make for pretty heavy reading. Not only could they take out transmission towers, but they also might be able to get around paying for calls (gasp!) and conduct denial-of-service attacks to purposefully crash the tower. As far as I know, none of these things have ever actually happened, but kudos to Apple for giving people ideas.

Apple argues that since jailbreaking gives users access to the OS code, it could be used to allow users to access the baseband process (BBP) and make changes to the device’s unique exclusive chip identifier (ECID). By changing that number, users could then either make calls anonymously, or even assign responsibility for calls to another ECID, the registered user of which would then be responsible for charges.

In their filing with the Copyright Office, Apple even went so far as to suggest what such a hack might be used for: “With access to the BBP via jailbreaking, hackers may be able to change the ECID, which in turn can enable phone calls to be made anonymously (this would be desirable to drug dealers, for example) or charges for the calls to be avoided.” Bringing up the specter of the war on drugs in the U.S. clearly shows that Apple knows what buttons to push to get its way.

As PCWorld rightly points out, network operators rely on SIM information, not the ECID, in order to identify customers for billing and liability purposes. Unlike the BBP, jailbreakers cannot access and change their SIM card information, so in theory all “drug dealers” would still be identifiable via their carrier, even if Apple couldn’t pinpoint exactly which iPhone they were using. Still, the denial-of-service attack threat still does pose a potential threat, in theory.

Apple’s argument is a response to the Electronic Frontier Foundation’s (EFF) claim that the iPhone jailbreak lock is invalid from a copyright perspective, and only serves to stifle the distribution of independent third-party applications. The U.S. Copyright Office is expected to rule either way later this year.

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Sometimes I feel like Microsoft keeps the Mac BU around just so it can mock and ridicule it. The unit never seems to get to join in the fun when it comes time to release a new iteration of Office. Not, at least, until well after its PC counterparts. The official line is that the development cycle for both products is always around two to three years, so the schedule dictates when new releases become available — which explains why we won’t be seeing Office 2010 until 2011. Regardless of cycles, Office for Mac is badly in need of an upgrade — right now.

I have Office 2008, but I can count the number of times I use it in one month on one finger. Whenever possible, I use Google Docs or Bean (an excellent freeware multiformat text editor for Mac) for any Word doc editing I may need to do, which is almost none now that I’ve left school and the corporate world behind. Even though a lot of people still depend on the format, as the number of Mac users grows, I suspect Office will continue to lose ground, especially if Microsoft continues to offer such seriously unpleasant Mac-specific software.

Sometimes I swear Office 2008 was just a ploy to get me to install Windows on a Boot Camp partition and run Office 2007. I find command and menu placement to be completely unintuitive and just plain awkward on the Mac version. Google Docs in an SSB seems like a natively designed OS X app by comparison.

Of course, a big part of the announcement of Office 2010 was the revelation of a suite of online apps, which theoretically should be accessible from any browser on any platform (unless MS pulls a classic IE-only block, which I don’t think it would for fear of inciting riots). So, Mac users will be able to join in on the fun, right? Not quite. The web portion of Office 2010, from what I gather from Microsoft’s press releases about the software, will complement and work together with the old-fashioned installed media portion. I think it’ll end up looking much more like iWork.com and iWork than Zoho Writer or Google Docs.

Microsoft, if you want to be a software company, be one. Clearly you think it makes business sense to develop for Mac, or the Mac BU wouldn’t exist (unless my conspiracy theories above are correct). If that’s the case, treat it as you would any other software, and build excitement by launching cross-platform products of consistent quality, all at once.

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I’ve been waiting for the ability to edit Word documents on the iPhone since the day I got one. Why? Because I’m a dreamer, and my dream is someday not having to lug around a laptop of any size while I’m traveling, or just out and about in the city.

My iPhone has become a big part of that dream, and the ability to edit any kind of document using it is another. The release of Quickoffice ($19.99, iTunes link) marks a big first for those editing capabilities, with full support for .doc files.

Now, Word support doesn’t mean as much to me as it once did, since I work primarily online these days, but it’s still great to have, and helpful for my own personal fiction writing. Thanks to Quickoffice, I can now edit stories and start new ones on the go, without having to first convert them to .txt or .rtf documents. Conversion doesn’t work well because a lot of the small print publishers still want .doc files, so I have to then convert back before sending.

Quickoffice does some big things right, but it also misses the mark with other features. First, uploading docs from your computer couldn’t be easier, and there’s no server app to install. You do it right in your browser by directing it to a private IP address on your local network, so it doesn’t matter if you’re using Windows or a Mac. Uploading a doc using the web interface worked flawlessly. Definitely a big plus.

Landscape editing is supported, and it does away with the interface bars to give you as much viewing space as possible. Well-thought out and customized for the platform. Editing in landscape makes working on the iPhone much less painful, and the menus aren’t really all that handy unless you’re setting up a brand new doc.

Copy and paste is supported, but since I’m using the new iPhone 3.0, Quickoffice’s implementation seems a little weak, since it actually sidesteps the built-in one. I’m sure this will be fixed by the time 3.0 is officially released, though, and for now their implementation is just fine, though it only works within Quickoffice itself and not between apps.

With Quickoffice you can also edit Excel files, though PowerPoint presentations are not yet supported. Microsoft’s newer .docx and .xlsx files are also not editable, though static versions can be viewed in Quickoffice. Honestly, that’s not really that big of a deal since most people have stuck with the older .doc standard anyway. Bottom line: if you want to edit Word documents on your iPhone, this is the way to do it for the time being, and things could be much, much worse.

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With Quickoffice, users can view and edit Microsoft Word and Excel files and share them over a wireless connection. Quickoffice is actually a collection of three individual apps, two of which are already available for the iPhone now. These are Quicksheet ($12.99, iTunes link), for editing Excel spreadsheets, and Quickoffice Files ($3.99, iTunes link), for viewing a variety of files, and transferring them to and from your device. The third application in the series is Quickword, which brings the crucial addition of Word document editing.

When (and if) it’s approved, it’ll also retail for $12.99 separately, or you can get the whole Quickoffice package together in one app for a price that’s yet to be revealed. I’d guess you might save a few bucks by getting the bundle, so look for it to be priced around $19.99.

News of the app’s submission comes closely on the heels of Microsoft Business Division President Stephen Elop dropping hints at the Web 2.0 conference earlier this week that document editing was indeed on its way to the iPhone. I’ve thought, until now, that the reason we hadn’t seen it yet was that Microsoft and Apple together were blocking it, but maybe Elop was referring to third-party apps like Quickoffice with his subtle suggestions. Then again, maybe they want to release their own branded solution and Quickoffice will be swiftly denied. We’ll find out next week.

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Productivity apps are at the core of most desktop publishing. After all, everyone eventually gets around to writing a letter! Very many of us have the dubious pleasure of living in a spreadsheet every day of our working lives. Some of us even use presentation tools like PowerPoint. (Just don’t get me started on how horribly most people use it.)

I was five years old when Word was released. It’s a very dear friend. So, when I started using a Mac in mid 2008, I bought Office 2008 right away. My reasoning was: Office is the best Productivity Suite in the World. I know it inside and out. It’s all I’ll ever need.

Fast-forward six months (and one upgrade to iWork ’09 later) and that opinion has changed radically. Office is undoubtedly the best productivity suite in the world, if you measure “best” by the sheer number of features it packs beneath that shiny ribbon.

Yet, after pushing myself to use Pages I’m rapidly moving away from Word. Why? Well, it’s not because Pages has more features. It doesn’t. Pages, by comparison, is a bare-bones word processor, far less mature than Word.

No, the reason I have migrated to Pages is because it offers a far superior experience. I probably get just as much actual work done in Pages as I ever did in Word, but the process seems to be so…different. I enjoy work more when I use Pages because it makes me feel more creative, more empowered. More productive.

And while its themes or image formatting tools aren’t as feature-rich as those in Word, the results are definitely superior. It’s Apple’s indomitable style and attention to detail that permeates iWork and, I like to think, adds a little of its sparkle to my own documents.

In a classic example of quality over quantity, the (relatively) small selection of image effects in Pages produces far more beautiful results than the unimaginative million-billion effects crowbar-ed into Word 2007.

The same is true for Keynote. And Numbers. Especially Numbers. For 30 years business computing was mired in gun-metal grey spreadsheet-hell. Then Apple wanders up to the bar in all its turtleneck glory and, with a flourish, produces an application that makes spreadsheets a pleasure to produce. Spreadsheets become Art. Incredible!

I think that’s the secret of iWork — it encourages us to take something that was always fairly bland and run-of-the-mill (a spreadsheet, an essay, a presentation) and challenges us to press a few buttons and produce something utterly gorgeous. Microsoft Office gives us the same tools (and more) but it doesn’t care if we don’t use them. iWork, on the other hand, gently coaxes us to do something special…and richly rewards us for making that tiny bit of effort.

Upgrading to iWork ’09 is a no-brainer for me. And if you haven’t tried it yet, you should do yourself a favour and download the trial. I dare you not to produce something extraordinary!

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To date, no app has enabled Office document editing on Apple’s iPhone, although many offer the ability to view them. There are also a number of rich-text editing applications, and some that allow creation and editing of spreadsheets. Office support is offered natively on the BlackBerry platform, so were the iPhone to gain editing capability, it might make the decision to switch easier for enterprise buyers.

When the SDK was first announced, there was some indication that Microsoft would offer their own application to support document editing on Apple’s mobile platform. If Dataviz’s teaser is to be believed, they may beat Redmond to the punch. Note however, that the teaser image says “Word, Excel and PowerPoint files on your iPhone”, and does not specifically mention editing. Still, on all platforms it currently appears on, editing is supported.

No hint at pricing is made, but both Palm and BlackBerry operating systems include the Standard edition, while the Premium version retails for $69.99. The iPhone’s App Store pricing has tended to favor less expensive pricing schemes, so it will be interesting to see if Dataviz prices its product differently for the platform. Conversely, users who need it might be willing to pay a premium for the ability to edit Office docs.

No word on a release date, but the teaser site offers the ability to sign up and be notified when the product is available.

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The first is for the Open XML File Format Converter, which bumps the version to 1.0.1 and fixes a remote code execution (rated by Microsoft as “important”) associated with security bulleting MS08-057. The Open XML Converter allows you to convert Open XML files that were created in Office 2008 for Mac or Office 2007 for Windows so that you can open, edit, and save them in earlier versions of Office for Mac. The download is 44MB and should be installed by anyone running Office 2004 or Office v. X on OS X 10.4.9 or higher.

Next up is Office 2004 with a 13MB patch to version 11.5.2 which addresses vulnerabilities which could allow attackers to run code on your system.

Similarly, Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac kicks it up to version 12.1.3 which addresses similar vulnerabilities as the Office 2004 update in this 154MB download.

You can avoid all this work by letting Microsoft do the work for you with their auto-update.

In Good Company

Apple also posted Security Update 2008-007 on October 9th, which addressed nineteen (19) groups of vulnerabilities across a wide spectrum of OS X 10.4 and OS X 10.5 built-in software. Of particular interest are:

• fixes to QuickLook crashes for users of Microsoft Excel
• a patch to a local privilege escalation issue with the network stack
• a fairly gnarly problem with launchd (specific to OS X 10.5.5) that can result in improper sandoxing of some scheduled applications
• correction to a buffer overflow situation with ColorSync that can be taken advantage of with maliciously crafted images (those evil images again)

Apple also updated trusted root certificates (which are an important component of ensuring secure network communications).

You can check out the other vulnerabilities that were corrected and grab them via Software Update or Apple Downloads (between 31MB & 200MB depending on your system).

Firmware Updates Join The Frey

Apple also posted MacBook/MacBook Pro Software Update 1.2 which — true to form — nebulously “improves compatibility with external displays and includes a variety of software fixes” (would anyone let Microsoft get away with this?). The 45MB update is available now.

The updates caused no issues for me, but I’d be interested to hear if anyone else experienced any problems or post-install issues.

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Open Office comprises of several applications: a word processor (Writer), spreadsheet (Calc), presentation package (Impress), drawing app (Draw), and database tools (Base).

Some of the features heralded in the new release include:

• A new splash screen upon launch (see above)
• The ability to import Microsoft Office (.doc, .ppt, .xls) and Office 2007/Office 2008 for Mac (.docx, .xlsx, .pptx) files (though it still isn’t possible to save to these formats)
• Support for sharing Excel workbooks
• Support for Excel sheets with up to 1024 columns
• A solver component for solving optimization problems
• Better polished crop and drawing tools
• The display of multiple Writer pages while editing
• Inclusion of Office commenting / change tracking in the document margin
• Some support for Visual Basic macros (a feature dropped by the Microsoft Office team)
• Enhanced support for PDF exporting, including password protection
• Support for Open Office extensions, allowing further features to be created by developers (similar to Firefox)
• No more reliance on X11

Open Office 3.0 is completely free to download and try out. If you are struggling with the Open Office site being overwhelmed with requests for the new software, it’s worth trying this mirror. Installation is far simpler than in previous versions and you can be up and running in a few minutes.

Let us know whether you’ll be switching from Microsoft Office!

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