Microsoft Office Web Apps Beta Test

Google Apps versus Microsoft Office Web Apps saga continued. Microsoft has launched a limited beta test of its Office Web Apps cloud computing software to rival Google Docs and Zoho . Read also previous post on Google Apps vs Microsoft Web Office

A "technical preview" of Office Web Apps is being made available to a select group of Windows SkyDrive users, a free cloud storage service.

Microsoft said that "tens of thousands" of SkyDrive users had been invited to test out the new online collaboration tools, which form part of the forthcoming Office 2010 release, and allow people to access, edit and share Excel, Word and PowerPoint documents online, using any computer, through a variety of web browsers.

Office Web Apps will compete directly with existing, similar services offered by other companies, such as Google Docs and Zoho's range of online collaborative software. Microsoft has promised that the final version of Office Web Apps will be available to the half a billion users of Hotmail, MSN Messenger and Windows Live services.

Microsoft has emphasized that the technical preview of Office Web Apps is merely a first look and is not "feature-complete". However, it emphasizes Microsoft's determination to overhaul its popular Office suite of desktop publishing tools for the internet age.

Google's free Docs service, and similar tools offered by Zoho, have proved popular with web users who want the flexibility to edit and share documents without being tethered to a single computer, and without the need for expensive software.

But despite being late to the cloud-based documents game, analysts believe Microsoft can see off the challenge posed by Google, without cannibalising its highly lucrative desktop software business.



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