Microsoft launches free Office Web Apps

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Jos

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Microsoft has officially taken the wraps off their online productivity suite today as the company steps up its game against the likes of Google and Zoho. Dubbed Office Web Apps, the suite comprises cloud-based versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote, and is accessible to anyone with a Windows Live account. The roll out was supposedly limited to the US, UK, Ireland and Canada but it seems to be working in other countries too -- just not in their native language.

Users get free access to the tools, along with 25GB of storage from their SkyDrive accounts. Microsoft describes it as an online companion to Office 2010 that will give you the "best productivity experience across the PC, phone, and browser." Office Web Apps lets you view and edit documents in your web browser or desktop, regardless of where they were created first. You can also collaborate with multiple people simultaneously, and there's a built in version history feature that will let you to go back to older edits of your documents.


The user interface seems very polished and has a desktop-esque look and feel most of us are familiar with. Surprisingly, Office Web Apps appears to work just fine in Chrome, Firefox and even Opera, though the "Edit in 'Office program'" button won't work unless you are in Internet Explorer. The platform will seamlessly integrate with Microsoft's Office 2010, which launches to the public next week, and will be compatible with smartphone versions of Office 2010.

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It's missing quite a few features from the full-fledge Office suite and it's a bit choppy, but it works pretty well.
 
I'm using Office 2010 now and this looks pretty robust to me. Wonder if this is the beginning of the end for the generic products like Word, Excel and Powerpoint. If they're going to make these nearly complete products web based, what's the point of buying a copy?
 
TomSEA said:
I'm using Office 2010 now and this looks pretty robust to me. Wonder if this is the beginning of the end for the generic products like Word, Excel and Powerpoint. If they're going to make these nearly complete products web based, what's the point of buying a copy?

I'm not trying to generalize, but for me two things would hold me back:
- What do you do when you don't have a connection?
- Do you really want to put any sensitive materials into the cloud?

For my personal use, web-based applications are great on secondary computers - my wife's netbook that never leaves the house, a small media box (if I ever need to edit anything on it), etc. For any serious work I still prefer to have full-fledged suites on my main desktop and on my work notebook.

Also, you don't need to pay anything for OpenOffice and you don;t depend on the Internet. Win-win.
 
TomSEA said:
I'm using Office 2010 now and this looks pretty robust to me. Wonder if this is the beginning of the end for the generic products like Word, Excel and Powerpoint. If they're going to make these nearly complete products web based, what's the point of buying a copy?

I have used Open Office for years now (before that a suite called StarOffice). It functions just as well as any other office suite and it's free. I can not justify the expenses of the Microsoft Office suite at all. I'm sure there are arguments for both free and paid suites. Usually it comes down to the availabilty of professional support which the average home user does not normally need.

As for web based suites, it just adds the 'internet required' variable to the equation. You need a regular internet connection to use them. What if your internet connection goes down and you really need it? Web based applications like this are highly overated. I'll just stick to my free suite. It does pretty much everything that any other office suite does.
 
nazartp said:

Also, you don't need to pay anything for OpenOffice and you don;t depend on the Internet. Win-win.

Beat me to it :)

Also I forgot to mention that OpenOffice has a portable version that can be used on a thumb drive so that you can use your own files and office suite on any computer. Win-win-WIN. :)
 
Can't export or save to local disk. Google allows export to multiple formats which I use on a regular basis. I see very limited use for this.
 
Um, as much as I love anything related to open-source, MS Office is better than OpenOffice. Don't sugar coat the truth... accept reality.

And I would give a detailed explanation as to why it is superior, but I don't have the time.
 
i have open office on home pc and some times when i have to papers do at school. even if i'm finished. i take them to the school library because office always catches more of my grammar errors and what not.. thus allowing me to get a better grade, so if this has a good spell check i'm sold.
 
I have extensively used ms office / open office and whatever the heck that IBM office is called (for a brief period), but the features/interface design (i.e. ease of use etc.) of MS Office simply set it apart from the rest. At least for now, I wouldn't mind paying for a better all round product i.e. MS Office. There is one thing about MS's web office though ..... it seems far more robust and useful than that Google's ducks or whatever its called. :D
 
Archean said:
I have extensively used ms office / open office and whatever the heck that IBM office is called (for a brief period), but the features/interface design (i.e. ease of use etc.) of MS Office simply set it apart from the rest. At least for now, I wouldn't mind paying for a better all round product i.e. MS Office. There is one thing about MS's web office though ..... it seems far more robust and useful than that Google's ducks or whatever its called. :D

Gotta say that I was not bashing MS Office when I was saying that OpenOffice is a good and free alternative. I have MS Office for my work computer (provided by my employer) and I have OpenOffice for home use. I would not trade MS Office for anything at this point to do serious work, but I do not want to pay a penny for simple tasks I need to perform at home. Just not worth it.
 
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