By Stevie Smith Oct 1, 2007, 15:38 GMT
Seattle-based Microsoft Corp. has this week reached out to users of its massively popular Office applications suite via the introduction of its new online Office Live Workspace, the American software company’s beta move allowing existing Office users to store, share and comment on documents.
American software giant Microsoft Corporation has introduced the beta of its Office Live Workplace website, which will allow users to upload, access, and share Word, Excel, and PowePoint documents. Credit: MICROSOFT
The new beta version of the totally free Office Live Workspace service gives its users access to around 250MB of storage space for as many as 1,000 ‘standard’ Office documents. In terms of accessibility, the final version of the site will support Microsoft Word, Excel spreadsheets, and PowerPoint presentations documents.
Arriving today (Monday Oct 01) as something of an Office-based social and professional network, users will be able to upload their documents to the site and also utilise it to dispatch e-mails and invitations to friends and associates – who can then leave comments related to the posted docs.
An Associated Press report reveals that users wishing to implement edits must first open the chosen document(s) through their own installed copy of the Office software application. Also, many of those presently signed up to the Office Live Workspace beta will be allowed to fully use the service before the close of 2007. Sign in flexibility extends to those registered with Microsoft’s Hotmail e-mail service, the Xbox Live online gaming service, and other Microsoft accounts.
Described by Microsoft corporate vice president Chris Capossela as a "companion service" and not a freestanding application, Office Live Workplace is being geared to appeal to those looking to take advantage of the Web’s power in order to conveniently access and interact with their documents, regardless of the host computer. Microsoft’s latest offering will arrive as compatible with the 2003 and 2007 editions of the Office software suite.
Analyst response related to the appearance of Office Live Workplace suggests that the current service is unlikely to bowl many people over in terms of its usefulness. However, chatter suggests that Microsoft Corp.’s expected push will probably see the site’s impact increasing when it finally becomes something closer to "Office reconstituted."
Microsoft has not yet offered any confirmed details with regard to the full and official rollout of its new service.
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