Microsoft Office heads to the Web

SEATTLE--In another clear sign that Microsoft sees the threat posed by its traditional business moving online, the company is readying a rival to Google's Documents and Spreadsheets.

The software maker is announcing Office Live Workspace, a free online tool for viewing, sharing and storing--but not editing--Office documents online. (Its existing Office Live efforts will be rebranded as Office Live Small Business.) It's not quite ready--starting Monday customers will be able to put in their name to be part of a beta testing program expected to begin later this year.

Still, the effort is a recognition that competition is heating up in the productivity arena, an area that large rivals had basically ceded to Microsoft a few years ago. In addition to Google's effort, which as of earlier this month also includes presentation software, IBM announced its free Lotus Symphony productivity software, which prompted 100,000 downloads in its first week of availability.

Adobe, meanwhile, on Monday is expected to announce it has acquired Virtual Ubiquity, a start-up that has built a Web-based word processor, called Buzzword, using Adobe's Flash and AIR technologies. Adobe is also introducing a service, code-named Share, that allows people to share and store documents via the Web.

A blend of online services and traditional software
For Microsoft, Office Live Workspace is also the next step in what the company touts as its "software plus services" strategy, essentially the notion that online services can serve as a complement to locally run software, but not necessarily fully replace software running on a consumer's own desktop machine or on a businesses server.

In some cases, though, Microsoft is also offering its traditional server software entirely as a hosted service. To start with, Microsoft is launching hosted versions of its Exchange e-mail and calendar program, its SharePoint portal software and Office Communications Server, its product for handling corporate instant messaging and telephony. Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer and other executives had previously said that such a service was coming.

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Microsoft Office 2008 Speaks Spanish

The newest version of Microsoft's entry-level accounting program for small businesses released on Thursday can handle accounts in Spanish and English, and integrate with more online banking services than the previous version.
Office Accounting 2008 is a basic set of bookkeeping tools that lets users do general tasks such as managing budgets. It also has special features for people who perform lots of dealings on eBay and handle payments through PayPal, the auction site's online money transfer service.
Microsoft's Office Accounting 2008 has also been released in the U.K. following a limited beta trial begun early this year. The U.K. version, which retails for #149.99 (US$311) is modified for U.K. accounting rules.
Microsoft said it has simplified how a user would set up a new corporation and customize the accounting functions according to industry. Other improvement include budget tracking, the ability to generate a new purchase order after a sales order, better bulk e-mail invoice and a resource center for questions about the software and accounting.

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