Most of the good forward looking product information we get out of Microsoft is from the many blogs written by its employees. And when a post is deleted by one of those bloggers, it’s a big alarm bell to seek out and find what they originally wrote. See, for example, our post from last year confirming that Microsoft is working on an online storage product. Today the deleted blog post strikes again (although in this case it’s an altered blog post).
Microsoft developer Tod Hilton wrote a blog post that says it’s his last day with Microsoft’s Global Foundation Services. He’s now moved to the Excel Services team, he says.
Hilton originally posted information on where the product is headed, then quickly removed it. The original text said”
The product has tons of potential and will probably be competing with the likes of Google Spreadsheets, DabbleDB, Zoho and JotSpot Tracker. It’s a really exciting time to be working on this product!
He then removed those sentences and said:
update: I removed some of my personal opinions from this post. I do not want to confuse anyone who might take them as prophecy.
While this doesn’t give away a whole lot, it’s clear that the team is looking to compete directly with Google Apps and Zoho, something they don’t do now. That implies that they are building an online reader/light editor at least for Excel.
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Google Apps is headed to the DeadPool.
The development of a web-based ‘office’ product by Microsoft does not surprise me by anymeans as this has been rumored for a while.
The larger question becomes how can they cash in on this? I truely think they need to make a slow migration from a desktop installed version to a fully functional online tool, this way they can slowy get customers use to paying for this service.
http://www.yawpco.com
It seems that Microsoft is just trying to compete with other companies rather than find out what the consumer wants. They move into so many areas because they can’t stand someone else being the market leader in a given sector. Apple dominates the mp3 player so Microsoft brings out the Zune and of course it doesn’t sell well because it’s not what people want. Apple announces the iPhone, Microsoft criticizes it then announces their phone. Now Google Apps. Man, Microsoft needs to grow up and find out what people want before Google takes them to task with Apps.
i like microsoft’s brand positioning for this arena they’re entering
it’s the logical next step for the co.
when you hear the term google apps - you start thinking what’s a search engine building apps for?
as for the smaller co’s also in this playing field - they’re either gonna die or get bought
I’m not a big fan of online office applications — There are many applications that I’d much rather use on the desktop. Until the “feel” of the desktop can be achieved within a browser, it will be hard to get me to change.
With that said, I’m sure Microsoft’s product won’t really be much different than Google’s or Zoho’s (personally, I find Zoho’s better).
…some Drifter;
I agree with your view. MS probably has a better chance at this than Google, since people know that MS is “for business” (watch the Mac commercials)
Googe apps is a half-ready product.
Ever since Ray Ozzie’s famously (not) leaked memo http://news.zdnet.com/2100-3513_22-5942232.html he’s been pretty clear about leveraging their core strength (enterprise desktop apps) into the services area in a way that builds on strength in both.
The online-only apps will have a harder time building out the “offline” piece of their products in a way that competes with Office.
‘Microsoft innovates’ as Bill Gates had said for years…..So Hillarious !
I think it is a good move for them. The challenge is that they will probably
be beat to/in the market not by this functionality set, but this functionality set packaged in a new revenue/service model.
Oh I’m sure MSFT is going to cannibalize their Office cash cow with this new exciting highly useful offering. It’s simply the beginning of MSFT web dominance coming from roots of MS office desktop.
Note that variety of apps mentioned there, including DabbleDB, which doesn’t compete directly with Google Spreadsheets, but is similar to Zoho Creator. So Microsoft is definitely thinking broader than just Excel here.
Microsoft always finds it’s way to copying others’ successful products. Sometimes they do it better than the originals…
I wonder if the apps will be cross-browser or if you will only get the full experience in IE, just like the outlook web access (which btw was one of the first ‘ajax’ apps and still one of the best)
One question comes up from this. When is MS going to do a cool
MSTube and/or MSMySpace and/or MSBay and/or MSSkype?
A lot of people like Microsoft…hey I use XP Pro myself. They’ve got
Vista launched, it’s time to strike MS!
Michael Arrington’s Guide to Making Big Companies Squirm, sez:
“While this doesn’t give away a whole lot, it’s clear that the team is looking to compete directly with Google Apps and Zoho, something they don’t do now. That implies that they are building an online reader/light editor at least for Excel.”
Gawd, I love blogs!
Microsoft has long been itching to move its core office apps to a subscription-based model that they could continuously milk for cash. Web-based apps let them control access, virtually eliminate piracy(just as there is no piracy for online MMORPGs that require paid accounts), and shift to a much more profitable business selling subscriptions. It’s a win-win, and a no brainer for them.
They kinda pulled a Microsoft with the google apps. Needed a few more months in the lab.
Bob Hasko
http://www.TeesMyBody.com T-Shirts
this is why it was even stupid to consider going up against MS in this area…WHY? cause it’s cool? Really, why is Google creating online apps which suck…it basically shows they’re flush with cash yet don’t have lost their direction. As for ZOHO, well, good try, maybe microsoft will wither buy you or hire you if they’re kind.
First the “confirmed” Zune phone. Now the “confirmed” MS online office suite. Seriously Arrington, use a little discretion. You’re liberal use of the word “confirmed” undermines your blog. I’d say you’re teetering on becoming a tabloid blog, but what’s the difference really anyway?
Where was this a year ago? I am sure Microsoft was working on this for quite some time but couldn’t they beat Google to the punch on this? Going in this direction was logical for Google, they need something other than just search advertising and now they may be getting more government customers because of the hesitation to upgrade to Vista, IE 7 etc.
MS on the other hand blew it. They should have beaten Google to the punch on this but instead chose to wait (or most likely delayed). Price, marketing and security would be their problems. They can’t seriously charge more than Google when half of MS’ features aren’t worth it. I can’t believe MS wanted to release their crappy Soapbox video service before this. Talk about a lack of vision/direction/innovation.
Confirmed: “having been established or made firm or received the rite of confirmation; ”
None of which you have. This is a vague rumor at best.
It might be in your best interest to spend less time trying to scoop people with “news” and more time making sure you have your “facts” in line.
This is great news. While Zoho and Google Apps are decent, bringing Microsoft into the picture will really up the ante. I just wish Sun Microsystems and OpenOffice.Org would get in on the action.
Microsofts position with run of the mill computer users puts them in a great position here. Just like a web based version of photoshop will feed amatuer users to the more expensive , professional product, I expect Ms simple online suite will feed even more users to their enterprise apps. Great move by Microsoft.
In my opinion Outlook Web version is much better than any other web-based email client.
It is almost the same as using normal Outlook. The main limitation is the lag waiting for pages to open. As broadband gets faster, this will only improve.
I would imagine that when Microsoft release the web versions of their other office products they will be just as good and will serve as an adequate replacement for the desktop apps.
Its difficult to get a whole lot of info from the post, but even if MS is building such a product, its hard to imagine what purpose it will serve. They already do provide office viewers on their site which can be downloaded and used to read office docs. Having a web reader doesnt really serve any purpose here.
i bet this is going to kick ass, when (if?) it finally comes out. sure steve ballmer may be an arms-flailing, foaming-at-the-mouth lunatic, but there’s still a ton of smart people at microsoft makin some really cool stuff. and now that they’re through that painful deathmarch known as vista, i bet we’ll see some real creativity out of there in the next few years. at least my ameritrade portfolio hopes so…
also,
@anshul - wtf are you talkin about man? it wouldn’t be a “web reader” for office docs, it would be ms office, via the web.
Nice catch, TechCrunch. It’s very interesting that Microsoft thinks so highly of these fringe Web office apps that it is moving to protect its flank. This isn’t so much that they are taking share from Office, but instead to stop them before they start to. Typical Microsoft, squeeze them for blood and quit when the product is almost acceptable.
Should not matter, why bother when this space is anyway useless.It never went beyond TC readers.
Don’t they already have this, isn’t that what Sharepoint and office live are?
Of course, like most Microsoft technology, I doubt it’ll work in anything other than IE. That’s a shame, because I’m really not that keen on Google’s poorly designed suite (but it’s still better than the rest).
They should aquire http://www.xcellery.com
Once again Microsoft misses the point:
They could purchase ZoHo for a tiny amount of the cost of developing their own product…..
Excel Web Access already exists. And with Sharepoint being used for Office Live for consumers and small business, this is hardly big news, if another of their more enterprise technologies gets reused. Expect their Commerce Server technology to be reused as their ecommerce offering for small business too. It makes perfect sence for Microsoft. They are mature applications with good APIs.
i have been talking about live desk (the operative name) of what was/is suppossed to be office online.. and it is still on schedule. everyone should look forward for the end of march, MS will star launching/talking things from there on..
and yeah, if there is a area MS is absolute without parallel is Office, once you start using office 2007, everything else seems incredibly slow and outdated..
@ Tim
I thought that but when you look at the experienced talent they must have in house; why would they want too. MS don’t have a great track record for buying companies and quickly turning the product into a MS one.
I think with .net and ajax and WPF/E it could potentially be the winner because lets face it MS are known for Office and Google are not.
I wonder if Microsoft get as tired (and ashamed?) how often they just bring out products so late in the game? They keep on losing relevance day by day. They will not rule the web like they rule the desktop. It’s a game that’s changing too fast, even for MS.
Of course they are working on it. From a defensive stance you need to be ready (or feel you are) if you are Microsoft. This doesn’t mean it will ever see the light of day.
Or that if it does, it will just be a design for features in office.
The right Microsoft strategy is to make multiple development bets and see what they need later.
Shouldn’t we be thinking on making an open source alternative?
test
Avatar: “once you start using office 2007, everything else seems incredibly slow and outdated”
Wow, I guess we should include Office 2007 itself in “everything else” . Here’s ZDNet on the subject:
“It’s astonishing that in the midst of a serious challenge from a new generation of Web-native office suites, Microsoft should give its rivals a helping hand by handicapping its own product so badly that it performs worse than an online product on a slow dial-up line.”
More details here.
It’s about f***ing time! Wooohoooo!
The market is heating up.. and ultimately this is good for consumers. Gartner wrote that IBM is also up for the battle. I just hpe we can do something similiar to what we are doing with Goolge Apps. http://www.applicationexchange.com. Unfortunately getting access to the Office Live API is a *****.
Zoli, What’s your personal take on Office 2007. Its just that I’m more productive with the new office and I’m curious why you should be against it. I’m not an MS employee nor a software developer. But I have to use Excel for my work.
The reason Zoli thinks Nex Excel sucks is because he is an advisor to AdventNet (Zoho) … It is ironic how we expect bloggers like Mike to disclose even their slightest connection with a particular company, but dont fell that the same applies to us!
BTW, my personal take on this .. MS will kick ass of other suites .. thats what they have done in the past, thats what they will do in the future!
I meant Next Excel (2007) (not Nex) .. sorry for the typo!
Aziz,
I’ve retyped my answer twice, my comments don’t come through, have asked Mike to check…
Hm, I think the spam filter does not like my embedded links … so ugly or not, here we go:
Aziz,
I’ve long been a believer in SaaS as a better model, and that’s what the article I quoted above in no. 41 is all about. Btw, it’s not simply my opinion, I’m quoting quite a few sources, some whom are decidedly MS-friendly. There’s a long string of arguments in that post, can’t recite them here.
When I am writing about Zoho specifically, like in this piece:
http://www.zoliblog.com/blog/_.....93286.html , I do disclose the advisory status.
I hate this when this public bashing of MS happens.
I am an MS fan and I am not ashamed to admit it. Also, I don’t know what people get by bashing MS. It is like something which they do just for the sake of doing it.
How many guys like other Office Applications? (I am not saying that there are none, but seriously how many guys honestly think that non MS-Office Applications are better??) And how many guys have found Lotus Notes better than Microsoft Outlook. The OWA is a superb stuff as well!!! I have used both and I know how much it hurts when you see the Formatting getting lost in Non-MS-Outlook mails. I use Excel 2007, and I am so used to it, that may be I won’t even like to waste my time learning any other tool.
Bottomline is… you can’t make everyone happy and competetion is GOOD, IMHO!!!!
I worked on a product at Microsoft called NetDocs back in the late 90s. It was to be a web based version of Office. The project didn’t go anywhere. True to form, they still don’t have anything 7+ years later.