Your cheap little Linux netbook just got a boost in credibility, or will get a boost when Microsoft drops the web app version of Office 2010 next year. To date, Linux netbooks or anything else running the OS had to rely on non-Microsoft programs to read, edit and save in the familiar .doc, .ppt and .xls file formats. What is MS thinking?
While doing their best to keep the stranglehold on the productivity software market, Linux struggles to get a foothold in the market without a painless solution for business documents that doesn’t require how-to instructions on the net. Linux without business documents surely has stunted its growth into the corporate market. By offering their web apps for free, Microsoft is reluctantly offering an olive branch to Linux users. In Microsoft’s video, the company states that browser Internet Explorer won’t be required to use the web app, they even name Firefox and Safari as being compatible. Microsoft doesn’t mention Google’s Chrome (although both Safari and Chrome are built using the same components).
Not mentioning Google Chrome is noteworthy if for no other reason than just last week Google announced plans for an OS for netbooks. Now Microsoft is gunning for a niche where Google has had some success: web apps. The two tech heavyweights continue to battle and posture in a war that is certain to get nastier. Presumably, Google Chrome users will be able to access the Microsoft Office web apps as well.
Microsoft’s late entry to web apps looks to make up for lost time, preserving the user experience on the web. The scaled down versions of Word, Excel, and others look to have duplicated the look and feel while opening the door to augmenting, not competing with their desktop companions. For many users, the web apps will be all that is needed.
Can the inclusion of Linux in Microsoft’s world of business documents give the little netbooks a new lease on life? Does MS Office web apps give more value to the netbooks segment as a whole clearing them for use at work? Either way, Linux just gained some street cred.
Source: [Gadgetell]
This article is just retarded. Microsoft isn't bringing to Linux as the title misleadingly states. Microsoft is bringing it to the Web. The two are far from synonymous! If MS was putting Office on Linux, then they'd release a desktop version. But they're not. Of course, Linux users can obviously use the online versions if they can use the web–but those versions will be far different than the desktop software product.
This so-called article isn't even worth being printed on a slow news day.
Matt said:
"This article is just retarded. Microsoft isn’t bringing to Linux as the title misleadingly states. Microsoft is bringing it to the Web."
While the use of the title in this article is questionable, it's not incorrect. Microsoft is known for bringing content to the web and not making it available to users of non Microsoft Operating Systems or Browsers by requiring the use of proprietary extensions found only in Microsoft's IE. By stating that Firefox and Opera will be supported for Office online, Microsoft is 'bending' and for the first time ever allowing Office to be utilized from other platforms.
Just because something is on the web, does not mean it is available to all platforms.
-Jeremy
Makes perfect sense, they want to make sure everybody keeps locked-in to MS office formats, so when netbooks come which are too light for a full office suite, people will come to online services. In order to keep everybody locked-in they will have to provide a free online office service as well…
I sure won't be using it!
Don't worry too much, guys, Microsoft will accidentally use some ActiveX advanced technology that can only be used with IE, which incidentally can only run on Windows. Or, a bit more sophisticated, it will only run on Silverlight with some specific features that are somehow not in the standard.
Come on, this stuffs are as old as the computer itself.
Not too long ago, MS had precedence in establishing market trends and everyone else would react.
This news shows a major shift in the trend and MS buckling under pressure from Google.
Google/OpenSource are now setting precedence and MS is reacting. This will accelerate as MS gets weaker and weaker.
MS Office on the web with support for browsers that aren't IE? That's a big deal. That means for the first time Microsoft's Office suite is accessible to Linux users without hacks or emulators or virtualization.
MS Office already works fine on Linux, see http://www.codeweavers.com/
I'm sure it will be slower than if it was running on a machine. I'm sure it will use flash and java and everything else it can to get that stuff working.
I will still never use MS's crap. I'm ODF all the way. It's not bloated and the apps that support it load way faster… 2-5 sec instead of 30-120.
Magice's guess about Silverlight is quite close, I think. Mary Jo Foley wrote in October 2008 at ZDNet Blogs (http://blogs.zdnet.com/microsoft/?p=1636):
"Officials said to expect more news on how Microsoft is Silverlight-enabling its own next-generation apps in the coming weeks/months. I wouldn’t be surprised to see some of the new Live Mesh applications Microsoft is building — or maybe even Office 14 applications — helping to enable PowerPoint to run online/offline in the browser, for example."
sir
I am working in Railways but i Need microsoft office for paper works for preparing office statment even though I have computer I am facing problems to prepat
e statmewnt