14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft released the first testing version of Office 2010 in mid-2009, and now the Redmond company is making available the Cloud-based components designed to enhance the next iteration of the Office System. On September 17, the software giant started rolling out the Office Web Apps Technical Preview, indicating that the testing program would be limited and access would be granted on an invitation-only basis. Official Office 2010 Technical Preview testers are not automatically granted acceptance into the Office Web Apps Technical Preview. Under the Office Web Apps brand umbrella, Microsoft has included Word Web App, Excel Web App, PowerPoint Web App and OneNote Web App.
“Office Web Apps are a key part of our vision for Office 2010,” revealed Michael Schultz, director of marketing for Microsoft Office Services at Microsoft. “Office Web Apps are the online, lightweight versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote. With Office Web Apps people can access, share and work on Office documents from virtually anywhere with an Internet connection — making it easy to bring ideas to life at home, school or work. From what we’ve seen so far, people love that Office Web Apps offer a consistent and familiar Office experience, and that documents retain fidelity while working in the cloud or offline.”
The limited number of participants that have received invitations to test drive Office Web Apps will be granted access to Word Web App, Excel Web App and PowerPoint Web App through Windows Live SkyDrive, the Redmond company noted. Schultz underlined that the Technical Preview was nothing more than the first stage of Microsoft opening up the Office 2010 Cloud applications to the public, and as such, for the time being, Office Web Apps are not feature complete. Moving onward, testers will be able to also use OneNote Web App, with the Redmond company promising more Office Web App features, as well as enhanced integration with Office 2010.
“The early Technical Preview program is designed to collect additional customer feedback prior to the broad release of the service. After this Technical Preview milestone, which is focused on consumers, we’ll continue to update the Office Web Apps, leading up to the broadly available beta and the official launch next year, and frequently update the service based on new user feedback after that,” Schultz added.
It is important to note that Office Web Apps are not designed to replace the Office 2010 components. Microsoft has underlined that it regards the Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote Cloud applications as complementary to Office 2010. Office Web Apps will be available through Internet Explorer, Firefox or Safari on Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux and will permit end users to view, edit and create documents, but will offer only a small subset of the features delivered by the client-side Office 2010 components.
“The full feature set for Office Web Apps will be available in the first half of 2010, and offered in three ways. First, Windows Live customers will have access to Office Web Apps on Windows Live SkyDrive. Second, Office Web Apps will be available to Office 2010 volume licensing business customers, hosted with Microsoft SharePoint Server on-premises. Today, these include more than 90 million Microsoft Office annuity customers. Third, businesses will also have access to Office Web Apps through Microsoft Online Services,” Schultz concluded.