Questions About Office 2016 "Desktop Apps" and "Universal Apps"


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I started this discussion after reading Mary Jo Foley's blog post at the link below. I have a few questions and possibly see a potential point of confusion. http://www.zdnet.com/article/whats-next-for-microsofts-universal-office-apps/

 

Briefly, as I understand it, Microsoft will be coming out with two versions of Office 2016: A "Desktop App" version, and a "Universal Apps" version.

 

The Desktop app version is the version that will have all the "bells and whistles" and the Universal apps version is the one that is most like today's Android and iPhone apps. (According to MJF, early in the article).  One confusing point is that the Universal apps (on Windows 10) was supposed to be on all three form-factors: desktop, tablet, and phone. I am assuming either of two things here: The Universal version on the desktop is still a "slimed down version" of the Full Office, or that somehow that the Universal Office will somehow be able to "adjust" to what form factor it's on? While I can see that as far as the UI is concerned, getting all the "underneath functionality" adjusted for the different form-factors would be quite a development feat.

 

The other idea was, "well maybe they have separate Universal versions for each form-factor". If that was so, why would they need a "desktop version" of Office for Windows 10? 

 

**The biggest question I have is: Will Universal phone apps run on Windows 8.x phones? If not, what does this mean for Windows 8 phone users? Does the "Desktop version" mentioned above have apps that can run on Windows Phone 8??? :s

 

I did see that Microsoft is trying to decide whether to include an Office 2016 Preview with the next Windows 10 Preview or make it a separate release.

 

But I'm still wondering about Windows 8 Phone users...where are their new Office apps going to come from??? :/

 

EDIT: One thing I forgot to mention was ... which would be used on the Surface? Based on primary usage of the device? Could desktop version and tablet version co-exist on the same machine??

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The other idea was, "well maybe they have separate Universal versions for each form-factor". If that was so, why would they need a "desktop version" of Office for Windows 10?

the universal version will run on all form factors. the win32 version still exists because companies don't upgrade their OSes right away. as time goes on, and those companies shift from their outdated OSes, there should only be one version.

 

**The biggest question I have is: Will Universal phone apps run on Windows 8.x phones? If not, what does this mean for Windows 8 phone users? Does the "Desktop version" mentioned above have apps that can run on Windows Phone 8??? :s

you will need windows 10 mobile to run these new apps developed on the universal app platform,and the upgrade for practically all wp8 users is free.

 

 

EDIT: One thing I forgot to mention was ... which would be used on the Surface? Based on primary usage of the device? Could desktop version and tablet version co-exist on the same machine??

the two one notes on my surface pro 3 coexist perfectly fine
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**The biggest question I have is: Will Universal phone apps run on Windows 8.x phones? If not, what does this mean for Windows 8 phone users? Does the "Desktop version" mentioned above have apps that can run on Windows Phone 8??? :s

 

But I'm still wondering about Windows 8 Phone users...where are their new Office apps going to come from??? :/

 

EDIT: One thing I forgot to mention was ... which would be used on the Surface? Based on primary usage of the device? Could desktop version and tablet version co-exist on the same machine??

 

Universal Apps or just Windows Apps will not run on WP8 it requires Windows 10 (phones, small tablets, tablets, hybrids, two-in-ones, desktops, laptops, you name it)

 

WP8 will not get new Office apps. Why? Because Office was integrated into the OS where every_single_time Microsoft had to update the OS in order to update Office. Bad idea.

 

 

Windows 10 is free for all Windows Phones running Windows Phone 8.1

 

Surface (I'm assuming RT?), we don't know... it will not be running full Windows 10 but something similar. 

 

 

Yes there are two apps, we are hoping the Office Apps (not desktop apps) will get more functionality than that of iOS and Android.

 

Mobile first, cloud first, Windows best.

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Thank you for clearing all this up.

 

My situation is this: As you can see in my profile, I'm a Windows 7 user on laptop and Android user on phone.

 

While I'm entitled to a "free" Windows 10 upgrade on my laptop, I don't really think Win10 will be able to run because of hardware compatibility reasons. Also, if secure boot is mandatory then I'm out of luck. That's ok. I'm ready to buy a new machine when the time is right. I hope that a lot of people are not like me though because if people are promised something for free and then there are subtle motherboard issues, that's going to cause ire.  (Remember "Vista Ready". Not exactly the same but same idea.)

 

Having Android on my phone, my "Microsoft app" situation is in good shape there. Since I and my wife got two new phones on contract this past Christmas we won't be in the market for a phone for awhile but I watch these forums so I'll be keeping an eye on Windows Phone.

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Thank you for clearing all this up.

 

Also, if secure boot is mandatory then I'm out of luck.

not if you're upgrading. its up to the oem to choose if secureboot is configurable on new windows 10 systems only.

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Support for Secure Boot is mandatory on "Designed for Windows 10" / "Build for Windows 10" machines. Basically, OEMs that want their machines to be part of the Windows Logo program.

 

Meaning, support for it would be required for machines released later this year. But that is only that those machines support it. OEMs can choose whether they want there to be an enable / disable button in the BIOS / UEFI or not, or whether it would be on by default or not.

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Thank you for clearing all this up.

 

My situation is this: As you can see in my profile, I'm a Windows 7 user on laptop and Android user on phone.

 

While I'm entitled to a "free" Windows 10 upgrade on my laptop, I don't really think Win10 will be able to run because of hardware compatibility reasons. Also, if secure boot is mandatory then I'm out of luck. That's ok. I'm ready to buy a new machine when the time is right. I hope that a lot of people are not like me though because if people are promised something for free and then there are subtle motherboard issues, that's going to cause ire.  (Remember "Vista Ready". Not exactly the same but same idea.)

 

Having Android on my phone, my "Microsoft app" situation is in good shape there. Since I and my wife got two new phones on contract this past Christmas we won't be in the market for a phone for awhile but I watch these forums so I'll be keeping an eye on Windows Phone.

Hardware-compatibility reasons?  On a Windows 7 laptop?

 

Unless you have esoteric (practically unique) hardware, Windows 10 will run on your laptop just fine.  (My two notebooks run 10056 just fine - one dates back to 7, and one dates back to Vista.  In fact, the smaller of the two supports Hyper-V - which came as a rather large surprise.  Remember, Hyper-V is not supported in either 7 or Vista.)

 

AMD CPU?  Again, that is the case with both notebooks (the older of which has an nForce chipset - the other has an AMD Mobility Radeon (old Vision Premium) chipset) - neither has any issues with Windows 10.  The only real issue is the multifunction card reader (in both notebooks) - however, drivers for that are available from HP (the OEM of both notebooks).

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Support for Secure Boot is mandatory on "Designed for Windows 10" / "Build for Windows 10" machines. Basically, OEMs that want their machines to be part of the Windows Logo program.

 

Meaning, support for it would be required for machines released later this year. But that is only that those machines support it. OEMs can choose whether they want there to be an enable / disable button in the BIOS / UEFI or not, or whether it would be on by default or not.

The same was a requirement for Windows 8 logo'd hardware - that is nothing new.

Even there, it IS able to be switched off.  (In the case of some HP hardware, it HAS to be switched off because of issues it creates with onboard Ethernet controllers - the Realtek gigabit Ethernet controller in Mom's Pavilion AIO has such a quirk.  However, the OS works fine with Secure Boot switched off.)

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The same was a requirement for Windows 8 logo'd hardware - that is nothing new.

Even there, it IS able to be switched off.  (In the case of some HP hardware, it HAS to be switched off because of issues it creates with onboard Ethernet controllers - the Realtek gigabit Ethernet controller in Mom's Pavilion AIO has such a quirk.  However, the OS works fine with Secure Boot switched off.)

 

The difference I think is that with 8 it was mandatory that OEMs allow users to disable SB if it is turned on by default. With 10, they can choose whether to allow users to disable it or not.

 

But I don't see any sane OEM not providing such basic option.

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The difference I think is that with 8 it was mandatory that OEMs allow users to disable SB if it is turned on by default. With 10, they can choose whether to allow users to disable it or not.

 

But I don't see any sane OEM not providing such basic option.

I don't either - if for no other reason than such hardware-related quirkage.

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Thanks to everyone for their comments. I will investigate this further.

 

I have a Toshiba laptop. When I run the Windows 8 Upgrade Advisor, it tells me that my system is not compatible because I don't have Secure Boot. I still have the original BIOS that it came with installed and I know they have had at least one upgrade since then. I will check on their forums and see if anyone else has had an experience like mine.

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