Intro to Microsoft Office Web Apps

With Office Web Apps, Microsoft finally brings the world's most popular productivity suite to the Web. Although the Office 2010 desktop upgrade includes significant enhancements over prior versions -- such as additional picture editing effects and document co-authoring capabilities -- the most notable update to Microsoft's flagship office suite is the Web integration.

Overview

Microsoft Office Web Apps are browser-based versions of Word, PowerPoint, Excel and OneNote. The online applications allow users to view, edit, and share their Office documents from any Internet-connected device, including mobile phones, Macs, and Linux systems (not all browsers or mobile devices may be supported, however).

Office Web Apps is a free, ad-supported service for personal users with a Windows Live account (also free; there are over 400 million Live users as of this writing). With Office Web Apps, Microsoft is finally competing against free online office suites such as Google Docs and other Office 2.0 suites like Zoho. Since Google Docs is reportedly widely used in 1 out of every 5 workplaces, Office Web Apps represents an important strategic step for Microsoft, the company's first proof of its commitment to cloud-based computing.

Office Web Apps access is also available to business users with Office 2010 Professional Plus and Standard desktop software licenses, and enterprises can use a subscription-based, hosted version of the apps via Microsoft Online Services. Companies who use Office Web Apps with SharePoint will also get more advanced enterprise-friendly features like more administrative controls and broader mobile support.

Microsoft is emphasizing that these (free or complimentary) web apps supplement rather than replace the Office desktop software. Office Web Apps, in other words, lacks some of the rich functionality of the paid desktop software.

Focus on Collaboration and Accessibility

In addition to other new features in Office 2010, the Office suite overall plays up collaboration, with features for sharing documents, emails, and appointments, as well as password-protecting and versioning these documents. In the new "Backstage" view, for example, users can share files with others by saving to them to SharePoint or to SkyDrive, Microsoft's online storage site that offers a whopping 25GB of free space for each account.

Office Web Apps opens up that accessibility and collaboration potential because you can edit and collaborate on files from pretty much any Internet-connected computer. That's the beauty of cloud computing.

First Impressions

Office 2010 Beta gave some glimpse of the new web capabilities for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint (not OneNote, unfortunately). And you know what? Although in-browser editing for Word was still "to come" when I tested it out, it was a beautiful thing to be able to edit an Excel spreadsheet from within Firefox. I was able to save the Excel document to Skydrive (with a choice of shared or private folders), view it in the browser a second later, and watch my changes in one browser being reflected instantly in a second browser window (i.e., as if I were sharing it with another person).

Though Office Web Apps offers limited functionality compared to the desktop version (and even compared to office suites that are entirely cloud based), easy access to your documents from wherever you are is always welcome.

Get Started with Office Web Apps

To sign up for the free Office Web Apps, head over to http://office.live.com.