Microsoft Office 2010 To Include Free Online Web Versions

Written by Simon Barker on July 13, 2009 · Filed under Internet, Software, Tech 

Microsoft have recently upped their game against Google with the release of the Bing search engine, it would now that they intend to start competing more strongly against Google Docs with their next office suite, Microsoft Office 2010.

The next version of Microsoft Office 2010, which typically includes Word, Excel, Powerpoint (plus some others depending on the package you get) will include web versions of these Office applications which will be available for people to use free of charge – the only requirement will be that you login using your Windows Live account, which if you haven’t already got one, are free to register for.

These web-based Office applications will be more lightweight due to their online nature, but allow you to create, access, share documents “in the cloud” – however these online web applications should include most of the core features you would expect – quite possibly many more than the equivalent you might find in Google Docs – will Microsoft be able to steal a march on Google by doing online something they’ve done so well offline for so many years?

There will also be two other ways in which you can use Microsoft Office 2010, the traditional way of buying the software license up-front and installing them onto your PC, or via a subscription basis, much like you would currently use an Anti-Virus product – something that is becoming a much more accepted and popular method of paying for software.

What do you think the look of Microsoft Office 2010 which may still be a year away, but do these early Office 2010 videos (such as the one below) make you think that Microsoft are actually getting their act together to take on Google and their other competitors in the right ways?

See What’s New in Microsoft Office 2010

Via – Mashable