14 DAY TRIAL // Office Live Workspace has debuted into Beta. Positioned as a direct rival of Google Docs, Office Live Workspace Beta is, in fact, nothing short of a much awaited reaction from Microsoft at Google's ever more intrusive steps into its Office territory. But, Microsoft stressed from the get go that Office Live Workspace Beta was, by no means, an alternative to the Office System. The Redmond company's Office suite has a near monopoly on the productivity application market, mirroring the situation of the Windows operating system. To take Office online and make it a free offering is a move equivalent with Microsoft killing of one of its two main cash cows. Instead, Office Live Workspace Beta is a supplement, an online extension of the Office System.
"Customers have asked for an easy way to save their documents from Office to the web, so that they can get to their information or projects if they're away from their PC. People also get frustrated with the confusing free-for-all that can result when multiple versions of documents circulate in e-mail attachments that then have to be manually pulled together by the original author. We're hopeful that Office Live Workspace helps solve these challenges by providing a place online to keep a single version of a document that everyone can work on, so you'll always know if you're working on the latest draft", revealed Kirk Gregersen, Office Director of Consumer and Small Business Product Management.
Office Live Workspace Beta is essentially an illustrative example of the Software + Services business strategy that Microsoft is adopting. The online service is offered on top of the desktop system, supported by an advertising model, with the purpose of extending the sharing and collaborative capabilities of the Office System. Office Live Workspace Beta also permits users to superficially manage their files via the browser, allowing for the previewing, but not editing of documents.
"This is just the start of a wave of new products we're rolling out to deliver on our vision of software plus services, bringing together the features and performance of software with the convenience and reach of services delivered over the internet. Today's beta launch across the thousands of pre-registrants who signed up in advance for the service will enable us to gather customer feedback that we'll use to optimize the customer experience before making it generally available next year. This is just the beginning. We're going to continue to evolve Office Live rapidly and nothing's off the table. Watch this space", Gregersen added.