Google’s web-based suite of office apps is about to feel the force of Microsoft Office – the Big M just announced the next version of its software suite will come with lightweight web versions, as well as full-blown desktop apps.

Announcing the move at the Professional Developers Conference, Microsoft said Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote would all be available online, letting users create, edit and share documents.

Compatibility with Internet Explorer, Firefox and Safari is guaranteed, and the web apps will run using HTML, AJAX and Microsoft’s Flash-esque Silverlight technology.

The web-based software suite will be known as “Office Web Applications” to differentiate them from the full-blown desktop versions, and will be accessible through Office Live. There’s the option of subscribing to Office Live, although a free version (funded by ads) will be available too.

It’s a strong offering from the Big M. Google Docs is fantastic, but with Silverlight making Microsoft’s offering that bit slicker, we could easily be tempted by Office on the web. What do you think? Does Office have a rosy future on the web, or is Google too established? Take a look at these early screenshots, and give us a shout in the comments section.

TBC | £TBC | Microsoft

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  • Spider86

    This could be a killer for google docs, because that is the main selling point of them, the online colaboration that people love. But what google docs does is try to look and feel like MS office. But if microsoft is launching it’s own online collaboration functions then I think people will just use that as it’s already in a familair program they are using anyway.
    Is this the end of Google docs?

  • http://sdfjlj.com jadfsadfasf

    MS is Son of bitch

  • http://watchdatenight.net Loria Sudduth

    Hello, I came across this blog post while searching for help with fixing Microsoft Silverlight. I’ve recently switched internet browser from Chrome to IE. Just recently I seem to have a problem with loading sites that use Microsoft Silverlight. Every time I browse page that requires Microsoft Silverlight, the page freezes and I get a “npctrl.dll” error. I cannot seem to find out how to fix it. Any aid getting Microsoft Silverlight to function is very appreciated! Thanks

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