Google Docs & Spreadsheets is a free web-based word processing and spreadsheet program, courtesy of the Mountain View-based search giant. Following its introduction, it has been compared to Microsoft's Office suite. Concomitantly with the availability of Windows Vista on January 30, Microsoft also delivered the 2007 Office System to the general public. The Redmond Company has failed to respond to the move performed by Google with its Internet Docs & Spreadsheets application. But could Microsoft be changing its tune with respect to Google?

James Senior, a Microsoft UK technical specialist, pointed to the existence of the Office 2007 Web Edition. As you can see from the screenshots at the bottom, or by visiting the MSN UK page, Microsoft is delivering a preview of what the 2007 Office Web System could look like. However, it is not real, but only a marketing stunt.

"I nearly did a back flip this morning when I was visiting MSN.co.uk and saw the page layout below. I thought we'd pushed out Office 2007 Web Edition too early or something. But no, I was taken in by this rather clever advertisement for Office on our MSN website today. The ad lets you experience some of the new Office Ribbon features by customising your MSN home page - very cool. Congrats to the marketing team who sit on the floor below me for coming up with this one - you know who you are," Senior stated.

An online-based free Office 2007 Web Edition is a long shot for Microsoft because it would rival the desktop Office System. The Redmond Company is letting Google pave the way with its free web-based word processing and spreadsheet program. If at a certain point Microsoft would manage to come up with a business system designed to monetize an online-based free Office 2007 Web Edition to its advantage, the suite will of course be implemented. But for now, the downsides of such a scenario far outweigh the benefits from Microsoft's perspective, as the company aims to enforce a software plus services business model, and not Google's software as Service approach.

"So is this what Office 2007 Web Edition might look like? Maybe. I would hazard a guess that it would be done in Silverlight and not Flash though," Senior asks. Well? Is it?