office

Microsoft is moving its Office applications including Outlook email, Excel spreadsheets and SharePoint collaboration tools into the online sector. Now consumers may use them from wherever they can access the Internet.

"It's obvious that Microsoft has to do this if they're going to remain competitive with Google," said Michael Yoshikami, chief executive of money manager YCMNET Advisors. "It's something they have to do."

Microsoft hopes to gain leading positions in the growing business software market with a new multibillion dollar business. The Redmond company making its main profit on Windows and Office franchises hopes to bereave a big market share from giants like Oracle Corp, SAP AG and start-up online vendor Salesforce.com Inc.

"The opportunities to make a good business economically are wonderful," said Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer in a telephone interview on Monday. "We're pretty pumped up."

Microsoft announced the end of its discount licensing program that has been very popular among companies’ workers wanting cheaper copies of Office products. The Redmond said its Employee Purchase Program (EPP) terminates in November after 7 years.

EPP has been available to customers buying Microsoft's products under its volume licensing programs.

Microsoft cited declining customer demand for its decision to kill EPP, but noted the vast majority — 90 per cent — of licenses purchased were for its Office suite.

One more strategic step was made by Google in its strong competition with Microsoft. The search engine giant has purchased a small start-up company DocVerse which enables Microsoft users to edit their documents on the Web. Terms of the transaction remain undisclosed.

"With DocVerse, people can begin to experience some of the benefits of web-based collaboration using the traditional Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint desktop applications," Google Product Manager Jonathan Rochelle said in the blog post.