Microsoft has debuted some of the features we can expect to see in its upcoming suite, Office 2010. While there’s been a lot of buzz about the truly dreadful marketing, there’s some good news to be had about the product itself.
Perhaps the most interesting of the news announced today is that Microsoft’s move towards cloud based Office functionality isn’t as general as some had intoned before. Instead, it’s something far closer to Google’s suite of online Office-like apps. The really big news here is that Microsoft will be making available free, web-based versions of Word, Powerpoint, Excel and OneNote. We love OneNote.
Moreover, they’ve stressed the importance of “document fidelity” in the web-based version of Word. We’ve said before that one of the biggest hurdles faced by moving Office suites to web based versions is that there’s a significant difference between the feel of a web-based client and a standalone application. Microsoft has stated that this is something it got a lot of feedback about and has tried to preserve for Word. Moreover, the web-based version of Word boasts the same style of interface as the Word we’re all familiar with.
It’s also interesting to note that there can be multiple editors working on a document at once, a feature we know some industries have clamoured for for years.
You can read more about Office 2010, with every little thing discussed in minute detail, over at TechCrunch.
Tags: excel, microsoft, microsoft office, office 2010, onenote, outlook, word
