Microsoft Office Web Apps goes live

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Microsoft has launched a free web-based version of Office 2010 for Windows Live users.

Having seen Google gain steady traction in the cloud-based productivity stakes with Google Docs over the past few years, Microsoft has now decided to follow suit, making stripped down consumer versions of its key Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote applications freely available online over its SkyDrive online storage system.

The suite is open to all Windows Live account holders, such as Hotmail users, in the UK, US, Canada and Ireland – though Microsoft does promise to make it more widely available in time.

In sharp contrast to the launches of physical versions of Office in the past, the arrival of Microsoft's Office Web Apps went almost without notice. The moment was marked by nothing more extravagant than a post on the Windows Blog by SkyDrive team manager Jason Moore.

One obvious reason for the muted introduction is the imminent arrival of the full-fat Office 2010 package next week – Microsoft's key software launch of the year. The business version is already available.

And with power and flexibility two of the cornerstones of the fully featured Office's appeal, the early release of a stripped down and limited offshoot isn't something the company's marketing department will want to focus much attention on.

However, Office Web Apps is still very much Office 2010 – essentially an extension of the Office Starter edition that is replacing the basic Works package in the desktop lineup. Much like Google Docs, Microsoft's online office suite focuses on basic productivity needs to keep things as streamlined as possible – that means far fewer features than Office users will be used to seeing.

“Over the last few months, we've gotten incredible feedback from the hundreds of thousands of users in our Office Web Apps Technical Preview,” Moore wrote. “We've been busy incorporating much of that feedback, and today, Office Web Apps on SkyDrive are now available to everyone in the US, UK, Canada, and Ireland.”

Moore noted that Office Web Apps was designed very much as an online partner to the full suite – whether the full Office suite or the free pre-loaded Office Starter edition – easily dovetailing through shared rich editing and co-authoring features such as revision marks and comments.

Documents can be uploaded to Office Web Apps – in batches if you're using Silverlight – or created within the browser. Cloud-based documents also be accessible directly from within desktop Office suites to make advanced editing possible without having to first take the document offline.

Like with Google Docs, collaborative documents are available to multiple users simultaneously, with a version history allowing you to backtrack should users move too quickly in opposite directions.

“We'll have more to share next week when Office 2010 is released to consumers, including how Office 2010 + SkyDrive + Office Web Apps give you the best productivity experience across the PC, phone, and browser,” Moore promised.

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