Microsoft Office Going FREE! in 2010

Microsoft is the largest distributor of productivity applications, flag shipped by its office suite.  Microsoft Office is such a common tool that many people have problems using anything else because they are so used to how they interact with this suite of applications.

Google and Sun Microsystems have been slowly but surely edging into Microsoft's lead by offering competitive products that are free (Google Docs and Open Office).  Both of the applications allow you to do most of the features offered in the MS Office suite and they are able to save files in the Office formats so that they can be easily opened by someone using the more popular suite.  I have seen many small businesses decide to offer their lower level employees one of these two office applications in order to cut costs and still enjoy high productivity.

Microsoft has finally decided to take the bull by the horns and offer a free online version of Office to combat these competitors (mostly Google).  Of course this will not be a full version but will contain all the major features that people use.  For many home users this suite will give you the option of not needing to purchase a version of MS Office for your home computer.  Initial reports from people who have done some beta testing is that the MS product will be more robust than what is available through Google Docs.  Either way I am pleased that the market is finally brining Microsoft into line.