Microfost Office Web - Tech Briefing

Microsoft Office Web is a new, online version of microsoft office. The program is still in development stage but it is expected to make its debut some time at the end of 2009 or early 2010, coinciding with the release of Microsoft Office 14. Microsoft has decided to take advantage of the new surge in cloud computing across the globe, making Office applications available to any computer with an internet connection. Along with the release of Office web, Microsoft is promoting the use of their Silverlight plugin, designed to improve performance of their web-based applications.

Office Web will feature:

• Online availability of Word, Excel, Powerpoint, and Onenote.
• Customers have the option to pay for the application suite, or use it free of charge with advertisements to support the costs.
• The ability to not only create, but edit and collaborate with other users.

The applications offered by Microsoft online will be 'lighter' versions of their original counterparts, in order to ensure functionality across different platforms (mac and PC) and keeping the use of system resources low.

Here are some links to addictional information:

http://www.microsoft.com/Presspass/Features/2008/oct08/10-28PDCOffice.mspx

http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10216625-2.html?tag=mncol

http://arstechnica.com/old/content/2008/10/microsoft-office-will-float-to-the-cloud-with-office-web.ars

-Juan Fabrega