Microsoft Office Gets a Free Web Version
By Jared Newman
In a move that everyone and their computer-disabled mothers recognize as a counter-attack on Google, Microsoft will launch a free version of its Office software next year. The plan is to use the service as a lure to Microsoft’s ad-supported Internet sites, such as Bing. Firefox, Safari and, of course, Internet Explorer will be supported (What, no Chrome?). The question is whether an online version will cannibalize the paid software, for which Microsoft charges a princely sum of $150. To combat this, Microsoft will clip some features from cloud Office, such as the video editing tools included in PowerPoint, though the Web apps will have Internet-friendly features like the ability to post a document to a blog. Personally, I like my word processing offline, and free, so I’m sticking with OpenOffice. [via InformationWeek]
