Micrsoft's Web Office Strategy: What a Muddle

Filed in archive Online Services on October 10, 2007

Microsoft still don't get the internet, or is it that Microsoft are so conflicted over the way the Internet now delivers software that they cannot make up their minds to provide a truly web application?

It seems that the new office service brought to you by Microsoft is really about being an adjunct to the Microsoft Office programs rather than being a truly web service. The new Office Live Workspace is just that, a workspace where you can save up to 1,000 documents. To create each document you need to be running Microsoft Office.

So this is now threat to Google apps, and Google apps are playing a very different game to Microsoft. It is likely that people who do not need all the bloatware that Microsoft sells, and those who will not pay $450 or more for the privilege could very well be served by Google.

When will Microsoft wake up and see that the goal posts have changed?