12 May 2010 | Author: D. Warburton Search Copywriter

Microsoft Office 2010 challenges Google Docs

Launching today for business customers, Microsoft Office 2010 is tackling Google head-on with a free online applications suite that analysts are viewing as a direct response to Google Docs.

Office Web Apps features free versions of popular programs such as Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint that users can access and edit through a web browser, allowing them to more easily share files over the internet.

BBC News reports that the Silicon Valley company has even partnered with Facebook to offer its free online suite to users of the social networking site, in a bid to extend its dominance of the office software market further.

"There's no question - Microsoft is responding to Google's threat," said Gartner analyst Whit Andrews.

"Until Google emerged with a credible suite of networked applications, Microsoft was not compelled to do anything."

Google's 'threat' in the office software market may not be too significant however; since its launch in 2006, Google Docs has grown in popularity thanks to its ever-expanding range of tools and features, but the company still only holds four per cent of the market - compared to Microsoft's mammoth 94 per cent.

By encroaching on the free online sphere, Microsoft may cancel out the advantages of Google Docs and similar services such as Zoho and OpenOffice.org, and its social networking features are expected to appeal in particular to younger users who may not have used office software before.

Microsoft has announced that Office Web Apps will be offered free to its 400 million Windows Live users, and has been tailored for use on mobile devices.

"It is critical that Microsoft capture users who are not tethered to the same desktop PC every day," Andrews explained.

"They need to be able to serve the growing netbook community and people using their phones."

With the home version of Office 2010 still some weeks from release, it remains to be seen whether Office 2010 will win over Microsoft's core market of business users in the meantime, as the company's dominance of office software shows no signs of slipping.

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