Free Web-Based Versions of Microsoft Office Products Officially Released, Includes 25 Gigabytes of Free Storage
Note: We were able to register for a new Live.com account and begin working on a document in less than three minutes. You no longer have to use a Hotmail address. These are ad supported services. In other words, they are free to the consumer.
Office Web Apps on SkyDrive are now available to everyone in the US, UK, Canada, and Ireland. We’ll have more to share next week when Office 2010 is released to consumers, including how Office 2010 + SkyDrive + Office Web Apps give you the best productivity experience across the PC, phone, and browser.
In the meantime, if you live in the US, UK, Canada, or Ireland, you can head over to Office.live.com today to start viewing and editing Word, PowerPoint, Excel, and OneNote documents right in your web browser – and share them with your friends.
Other Things You Can Do:
1) Upload Word Docs, Slides, and Spreadsheets You've Created Elsewhere
2) Read Office Docs on Your Smartphone
3) All Files are Searchable
4) Work with Others on a Doc in Realtime (Excel and OneNote Only)
The Office Web Apps, as the programs are dubbed, are slimmed down versions of the desktop counterparts, allowing for document viewing, sharing, and lightweight editing. Consumers get free access to the tools, along with 25GB of storage as part of Windows Live, while businesses can also host their own version of the Web Apps using the latest version of Sharepoint. The main catch is that using the browser-based versions require an active Internet connection.
Microsoft's Web apps are designed to work on Macs, Windows PCs, and Linux-based computers using Firefox, Internet Explorer, or Safari (though Google's Chrome and other browsers may work as well). The programs have been available in a limited technology preview since last year. The free consumer versions are designed to be ad-supported, though Microsoft has said that for the foreseeable future it expects to show ads that encourage people to buy the full version of Office.
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