Office Live Workspace Is Microsoft's Most Promising Web App Yet, But It's Tied to the Desktop
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Microsoft's newly-released Office Live Workspace is a web app that lets you share documents and edit them right in the browser. It would be a revolutionary release if it didn't require Microsoft Office to be installed on your computer as well.
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Microsoft today made new versions of its dominant desktop programs, Windows and Office, available to business customers.
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Interested in trying out the free OpenOffice.org 2.0 office suite without having to install it on your computer?Now's your chance.That option became possible Tuesday when OpenOffice.org and online application vendor Ulteo launched a beta project that hosts OpenOffice.org 2.0 on Ulteo's Online Desktop infrastructure, giving users online access to the applications and up to 1GB of related data storage.In an announcement, the two groups said the project will be open to 15,000 beta users who will be able to access the applications using a Web browser on Windows, Linux or Mac OS X.Beta users will also have access to the project's instant collaboration features, which will allow participants to invite other users to join them online in working on a document together in real time. Users can send invitations to others via e-mail, allowing access to documents in either read-only or full edit mode through a clickable link in the message."Now everyone can use OpenOffice.org from any connected PC, anytime, anywhere," Florian Effenberger, marketing project co-lead of OpenOffice.org, said in a statement. "You even can work together on documents online and collaborate with others. This especially is an interesting option for trainers and workgroups.""Ulteo is very proud to deliver OpenOffice.org to the community in a new, useful and exciting way: online and designed for collaboration," Thierry Koehrlen, CEO of Ulteo, said in a statement. "We expect that it will ... spread OpenOffice.org to even more users now that it is simpler than ever to try and? use it in a couple of clicks."Users can register for the beta program at Ulteo's Web site.
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InfoWorld - A startup working in Microsoft's backyard is taking aim at the software giant's entrenched project management software with a new hosted service.
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Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates talked publicly for the first time on Monday about the next big Office release, code-named Office 14, which he said will give users new ways to access their applications online.Microsoft won&#39;t provide the full functionality of Office online, but it will offer limited capabilities to view and edit the data in Office applications. It already does this for its Outlook e-mail client with a product called Outlook Web Access, and it will offer similar capabilities for other applications in Office 14, Gates said in a speech at the Microsoft Office System Developer Conference in San Jose, California.&quot;Outlook Web Access is not the full version of Office, but if you want to go into a kiosk or an Internet cafe and browse and connect, it gives you plenty of functionality,&quot; he said. &quot;As we look at all the modules [in Office 14], we have in mind the equivalent of Outlook Web Access,&quot; Gates said.It was the first time Microsoft had confirmed the &quot;Office 14&quot; moniker for the next release, although the Windows enthusiast Web site AeroXperience reported that fact recently, citing an internal Microsoft document. It also reported that a beta of Office 14 would appear this year with commercial release planned for 2009.Gates offered no timeline Monday and addressed Office 14 only briefly at the end of his speech, which focused on how developers can extend the current version of Office. He was answering a question from a developer in the audience who asked when Microsoft would provide full online access for Office in the same way Google does for its Google Apps service.&quot;There are lots of ways I can get to your Office data, but nothing compares to Google,&quot; the developer said.Google Apps is used mostly by smaller businesses today, but it is seen as a potential competitor to Office despite having more limited functionality. Microsoft, which makes much of its profits from its Office desktop software, has been criticized for moving too slowly in getting the applications online.It will take another step in that direction with Office 14 by offering Outlook Web Access equivalents of other Office applications such as Excel. &quot;If you look at spreadsheets, maybe you&#39;ll not be able to set up all the data models [online], but you&#39;ll be able to read documents, change a few assumptions, and try things out,&quot; Gates said.Outlook Web Access is a part of Microsoft&#39;s Exchange Server 2007 software, and it was unclear how the other Office 14 applications would be packaged and delivered. Gates did say that SharePoint Server, which is becoming more closely aligned with Office, &quot;will be able to render a greater set of Office documents in an HTML environment.&quot;
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Microsoft Corp. is using the same tactic for its online services that made its Internet Explorer browser ubiquitous among Internet users. With new beta technology it's releasing Wednesday, Microsoft is tying its Windows Live services directly to its Windows OS.
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Office, Microsoft Corp.&#39;s (MSFT.O: Quote, Profile, Research) collection of programs for business documents and tasks, is fast becoming a software platform unto itself.
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Office Live Small Business gives the nationâs 25 million small businesses the same online tools that the big boys use, and it shows Microsoft can still produce fresh ideas and polished work.
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Microsoft wants to create closer ties between its Office desktop software and its server applications in the next version of Office, hoping customers will upgrade their copies of the dominant desktop software suite.
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In the workplace, Microsoft Office is as inevitable as drawn-out meetings and bad coffee. But Microsoft's combination of Word, Excel and PowerPoint is not the only way to write, crunch numbers or prepare slideshows. And for home users, it isn't even the best way anymore.
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Microsoft is continuing to flesh out its Windows Live strategy, on Wednesday releasing beta versions of Windows Live Photo Gallery and Windows Live Folders. The additions will join Windows Live Mail Desktop, Windows Live Writer, and a number of other applications as part of the Windows Live Suite.
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New partners and products signal Redmond&#39;s intent to dominate online music and video. Apple, watch out! Long ago, Microsoft (MSFT ) conquered the office -- its Windows operating system is on an estimated 500 million computers around the world.
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Office, Microsoft Corp.'s  collection of programs for business documents and tasks, is fast becoming a software platform unto itself.
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This scenario is all too familiar to office workers who collaborate electronically on projects: E-mails get passed around with differing versions of documents-in-progress attached. Instant messages whizz by. Web sites are cited, then lost. It's often a jumbled mess, with no central online location for shared data. There must be a better way.
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Microsoft Corp. introduced on Tuesday a desktop computer application that aims to seamlessly integrate e-mail, instant messaging, video conferencing, traditional phone service and Internet-based calling.
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The company offers a suite of online services including e-mail and Web search under its Windows Live brand.
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Once ethereal, Microsoft's plans to try to replicate its desktop position on the Web are starting to become clearer.