The war rages on. Google and Microsoft are at each others throats, fighting for dominance in the internet world. Play for play, they are showing their cards, daring the other to better their hand. Google launch their own browser, Chrome. Microsoft launch their new search engine, Bing. Google launch their new OS Google Chrome. Now Microsoft is Offering MS Office for free on the internet.
Office 2010 will feature free and lightweight versions of Word, PowerPoint, Excel and OneNote, Microsoft revealed at a developer conference. It is a direct challenge to Google's Docs range of productivity tools, launched three years ago.
Google’s online spreadsheet and office related applications have been gaining popularity. To counter that Microsoft plans to take Office online, with a new series of free Office Web applications.
“Office Web Applications, the online companion to Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote applications will allow you to access documents from anywhere. You can even simultaneously share and work on documents with others online,” says Microsoft Office 2010 Technical Preview Website.
Microsoft has also announced that it will reduce the number of office editions from 8 to 5. Unfortunately, there isn’t anything to try out yet – Microsoft says that the new version of Office and its accompanying Web version won’t be available until the first half of next year.
Check out The Complete Guide to Microsoft Office 2010 from Techcrunch.
Microsoft is trying to get into the free open source market. How do you think it will fare against Google Docs, and even to a point, Open Office?
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