October 29, 2006

Why Microsoft Won't Make Office Hosted Yet (or in the near future)

Cnet quotes Microsoft's chief software architect, Ray Ozzie, as saying the following about why Microsoft is not rushing to create an online version of Office, even though its rivals (like Google) are: People have been trying to create applications with Web technology since the Web began," Ozzie said. "Just because you can do it, doesn't mean you should. We are looking at Google Docs & Spreadsheets, and paying attention to Office 2.0 and Zoho. We are also putting those in front of customers and seeing what makes sense.

One of the executives behind Office Live shed light on this for me as well.

I spoke with Baris Cetinok, the director of project management and marketing for Office Live last week and based on our discussion it's clear that Office Live will be the key driver of Microsoft's online services. Microsoft, as Ray says, is not going to rush to create an online Office suite but is going to push VERY hard to extend Microsoft Office using hosted applications. The platform is going to be Office Live.

I'll have much more on the new Office Live (including audio from Baris), Office Accounting and online services in the coming days. Keep your eye on this spot.

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