Microsoft are to unveil some of the most popular consumer and enterprise products, including Office, on the web. This could well be there most outrageous attempt to seize some initiative back from Google on the web. Consumers will now be able to create, write and store Word and other documents on the web.

The release of a web-based version of Office comes only a day after Microsoft suggested it would offer web-based versions of some of its favoured products, including the e-mail program Exchange. This clearly shows Microsoft’s commitment to catch up with the ever-popular Google after they also released a similar Office-like application, named Google Apps.

Microsoft, who are also still fighting a battle to take control of Yahoo! following a $45 billion takeover bid, are aware that Google are well placed to exploit the new trend of delivering software via the internet, having already seized a massive chunk of the online advertising business.

Last week, Google increased the pressure on Microsoft with the launch of Google Sites, a program which which allows employees to create websites on which they can present documents as well as videos and other material.

More than 500,000 companies have already signed up for one of the free or paying versions of Google Apps, and about 2,000 new organisations are signing up each day, Google have said.

The emergence of the model for software delivery where customers pay a monthly subscription to access programs – rather than a licence fee for every copy they buy – has sparked a flurry of acquisitions among larger software firms as they put together new web-based portfolios of products.

Last month, Dell bought MessageOne, a provider of online e-mail archiving and management services, for $155 million.

Source: http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/article3478146.ece