Web Based Version Of Office Coming

Microsoft is planning to put their Office suite of programs on the web, competing directly with Google’s offering, Google Docs. There will be web based versions of Excel, PowerPoint, Word, and OneNote. It’s been rumoured that they will use HTML and Ajax with additional proprieary MS components e.g. Silverlight. They will feature the ribbon user interface that was introduced in Office 2007. These web based doubles will debut with the release of Office 14.

Rumours of a Microsoft web office suite go back as far as 2006, around the time that Google released its suite of Google Docs web applications.

Microsoft On The Web

Microsoft’s foray into the web is currently limited to the following:

• Office Online – customers can download templates for Microsoft Office products
• Office Live Workspace – users can store and share file
• Office Live Small Business – you can use this product to give your small business a web presence
• Groove and Sharepoint – these are consumer and enterprise products that allow their users to collaborate using Microsoft products

However, none of the above are web based alternatives to the current Office applications.

Microsoft Office On The Web

Things are going to change now that Microsoft has announced that it will offer Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote — the components of the Student and Teacher version of Office — as web applications. Of course, owing to limitations imposed by the nature of the web as a medium, these will be ‘lightweight’ versions of their desktop counterparts.

It’s rumoured that for the general public there will be free versions featuring adverts, and also paid versions that will have the adverts removed. For business users it’s envisaged that there will be a hosted subscription based service.

Tags | microsoft office 14, web based, web based office