Microsoft’s Office 365 apps – Word, Excel, and PowerPoint – are now receiving updates to take full advantage of trackpad support in iPadOS to give iPad users using a mouse or Apple’s new Magic Keyboard easy cursor control, fluid navigation, and precise adjustments.
When moving a finger across the built-in trackpad of Magic Keyboard, the cursor transforms into the tool you need depending on the content you’re pointing to. And using a mouse or trackpad with iPad for common tasks like highlighting a passage of text in Word, selecting a range of cells in Excel, and moving and resizing graphics in PowerPoint are as simple and intuitive as ever. This experience will be immediately familiar to anyone who has ever used Office on a Mac or a PC and helps make iPad even more versatile and capable for getting more work done.
Many users have already started receiving these updates through a phased roll-out, which should reach all users within a couple weeks. These updates are just the latest in a series of improvements we continue to make to the Office experience designed to take advantage of the unique capabilities of iPad, such as its large Multi-Touch display, and versatile accessories, including the ability to open multiple documents in Word and PowerPoint, the new keyboard shortcuts which were released this summer and fall, and additional updates which you will see over the next few months such as multiple document support in Excel, powerful contextual menus, and offline file support for cloud files.
MacDailyNews Take: Whoopdiedo!
“Whoopdiedo!” – MacDailyNews
Yes, MDN remembers. From Wikipedia: “Prior to 1994, Microsoft had an extensive range of actively developed Macintosh software. In 1994, Microsoft stopped development of most of its Mac applications until a new version of Office in 1998, after the creation of the new Microsoft Macintosh Business Unit the year prior.”
As someone who also remembers, in 1995, M$ came out with the first successful clone of the Macintosh OS. M$ will imitate, integrate, steal, and eventually destroy their competitors if given the chance. Watch what they’re doing with their adoption and embrace of Android; remember that, as a first tier developer for macOS and iOS, they have access to the macOS, iPadOS, and iOS SDKs.
It wouldn’t surprise me at all that in a few years they’ll have resurrected their Windows Mobile brand that will eerily “similar” to the OSes that Apple makes. Beware!