Hey, you know Microsoft Office, that thing you’ve been downloading illegally for free all these years? It would seem that Microsoft’s finally catching up with the current state of computing – in June, they’ll be offering it for free, for real.
In a move more than likely inspired by Google Docs’ sudden usefulness to people who want to be able to use one set of tools across the cloud, Microsoft will be releasing a free, ad-supported, online version of Office along side a more robust, un-free version in June. The hope is that, as approximately 90% of Office users are business users, they’ll prefer the traditional, expensive, fancy-pants Office anyway – after all, the last thing a high-powered exec wants is to have to look at an Evony ad while typing up a financial presentation.
[Via Seattle Times]
Doesn’t really affect me until they release the mac version for free but Hooray MS is actually doing something good for once!!
Hopefully Apple does the same with its own iWork. Yay for competition!!