'Microsoft's Biggest Miss'

Patrick Rhone shares a conversation between himself and his wife about Microsoft Office:

To my clients, Microsoft Office was a “must have” no matter how much I tried to convince them otherwise. And I tried very hard for a while before even I just finally gave up. If a client told me they had to have it I just nodded along and told them what to get and where. They were as sure as the sun rises that, without Office, they would not be able to work, open attachments, write letters, anything. They had to have it.

Then, she explained, the iPhone came. There was no Office. People got things done. Then the iPad came. There was no Office. People got things done. Android came. People got things done. All of those things that they, just a couple of years ago, were convinced they needed Office to do. They got them done without it. And thus, the truth was revealed.

I haven’t had Office installed on my Mac since graduating college in 2007. Even then, I rarely used it since iWork’s debut back in 2005. Today, I do nearly all my writing in plain text in Byword. Otherwise I reach for iWork.