Microsoft has opened its Web-based productivity suite, Office Web Apps, to the public ahead of Office 2010’s official launch. That’s good news for small businesses and consumers looking to avail themselves of the upgraded Office’s features without having to shell out for the full product.
It’s the latest effort by Microsoft to promote Web-based flavors of its Office Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote as rivals like Google and Zoho gain traction with their own online productivity apps. Small Business Computing takes a look.
Microsoft’s enterprise IT customers got access to its Web-based Office web Apps on May 12, when the company released the corporate version of Office 2010.
Now, Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) has released a free version of Office Web Apps that may well appeal to small business owners and other budget-constrained organizations. The announcement comes a week before Office 2010 makes its commercial debut on June 15. The news was revealed in a post on Microsoft’s Windows Live blog this week.