14 DAY TRIAL // With the introduction of Office 2010 testing releases, Microsoft also allowed early adopters to take Cloud versions of the productivity suite’s main components out for a spin. Office Web Apps were offered through Windows Live, namely Windows Live Skydrive, but testing was also possible via on-premise deployments. It is precisely for IT professionals that are looking to deploy Office Web Apps in their IT infrastructure that Microsoft is offering guidance for download. The “Guide for IT Pros for Microsoft Office Web Apps Beta” is available through the Microsoft Download Center.
“Microsoft Office Web Apps is the online companion to Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote applications that enables users to access documents from anywhere. Users can view, share, and work on documents with others online across personal computers, mobile phones, and the Web. Office Web Apps is available to users through Windows Live and to business customers with Microsoft Office 2010 volume licensing and document management solutions based on Microsoft SharePoint 2010 Products,” an excerpt from the guide reads.
The Redmond company has stressed repeatedly that Office Web Apps are not a Cloud-based alternative to the desktop version of Office 2010. Instead, customers should still rely on the desktop flavor of Office 2010, and to turn to the Office Web Apps in order to take advantage of sharing, collaboration and access anywhere capabilities.
“Office Web Apps is available to consumers and businesses through: Windows Live - for consumers and small business users, Office Web Apps is available on Windows Live as a free service. On-premises Business customers licensed for Microsoft Office 2010 through a Volume Licensing program can run Office Web Apps on a server running Microsoft SharePoint Foundation 2010 or Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010,” it is added in the guide.