Miscrosoft to enter cloud computing

Software giant Miscrosoft announced this week that it is moving into cloud computing by having web versions of Word, Excel and other programs that make up the Microsoft Office suite to go online next year.

This move from the software giant comes belatedly as Google and Adobe have been in the business for some time where users will be able to access programs like Excel and Word, via a web browser instead installing these programs on the PC drives and some of the programs will be free.

Stephen Elop, president of Microsoft's business division, said that the users of Microsoft software will spend little money on computer maintenance as they can now use the web to avail programs like Microsoft Office, Exchange, and Sharepoint.

The company also intends to upgrade its Office business software and will introduce an array of services and many versions will be free as they will be supported by advertising with the web-based versions working with rival browsers, such as Firefox, and users will not require installing its Silverlight software.

He also said that the free versions will be better than Google Apps in capabilities as users will be able to move office documents in and out of the Web browser without the text being garbled.

But experts say that although Google is a leader in search and advertising businesses, its Google's Office suite is one of the best on the Web as it is a seamless operation as coming back to files from Google's server and work from any computer at any time is not something one can do Microsoft Office.

Microsoft will also have to compete with 'ThinkFree Office Online, as it is the best and the most respected online Office apps in the market, as it offers all the "must-have" features available in Microsoft Office like a rich toolbar, a ruler bar, and an interface that offers simplicity and delivers the same feel as Word, Excel, or Powerpoint.

Zoho's online Office suite is also very good because apart from the basics like word processing, spreadsheets, and presentations, it also has a full-featured Wiki, note taker, organizer, Web conferencing, and more.

The advantage that Microsoft's has compared to Google and others is its varied array of software services and the company hopes to make a profit from cloud computing within a year.