 (Click photo to enlarge.) |
C-Net News – September 17, 2009 9:38 AM PDT
Microsoft plans on Thursday to start public testing for the first browser-based version of Office, although the technology preview is at least as notable for what it doesn’t include as what it does offer.
The limited test of the so-called Office Web Apps includes versions of Word, Excel and PowerPoint, but not the OneNote note-taking application. And while Excel and PowerPoint offer the ability to edit and create documents, the current Web-based version of Word can only be used to view documents, essentially the same capability it already offers as part of its current Office Live Workspace product.
Microsoft said the Web versions of OneNote and Word share “the same editing surface,” and that the technology is still being worked on.
“We made the hard decision to turn off editing in the Word Web App at Tech Preview, in order for people to have the best experience at this early stage,” Microsoft said.
Microsoft plans to offer the Web Apps preview first to users of Windows Live SkyDrive, giving them 25GB worth of storage.
I still don’t want my data floating around somewhere on a cloud.
I don’t want or need improvements in the application skin!!!!
What I need, particularly in excel are improvements in it’s graphing capabilities, data import abilities, handling large data sets, ….
I also want the window explore to be much faster in opening up large directories, finding files, …
Why should anyone pay hundreds of dollars for an upgrade in the applications skin???
Great. So when your internet is down you cant use your spreadsheet, and you have to trust Microsoft’s sterling record on security to protect your data. Whats not to like?
/sarcasm
#2 Hugh,
Look at the bright side. if the net is down you can go home early.
I would hope there is a offline component. Not sure about security but I’ve been using Skydrive for some time now an it has been very reliable.
seems like a service setup to document your every written thought.
i can’t believe people would be so naive as to trust their data sitting somewhere in a “cloud”
-especially given the insane amount of local power outages happening all over the country.
-s
Pushing desktop apps to the web whole hog is just, well, kind of weird and stupid. Domains that were already “cloudish” before 2000 like email and calendaring move well to the cloud. Domains that are heavy user interactive like gaming or spreadsheets don’t move well. Small docs and lightweight collaboration kind of sit in the middle.
If Microsoft was actually smart (roll eyes) they would have taken their natural incumbency position and created a new version of Office that let’s people collaborate over internet effortlessly within their desktop applications. The servers would mediate communication (discovery, long running sessions, off-line updates, etc) and allow easy backup if you want (like emails on a server except that it’s documents). Basically this would be the World of Warcraft approach – no one doubts that you’re playing over the internet with a cloud (big ass servers) in the middle but the user experience is on the desktop.
I like the cloud, I think it’s a good idea. My mail and calendaring are on the cloud. I backup and share documents on the cloud (I pay for that). I like social networking on the cloud (blogs, articles, twitter, sites like this, IM, etc). But the cloud is about connecting to services and leveraging that power. Maybe one day everything will be on the cloud if user experience is good enough – however HTML5 and Flash just aren’t good enough. So don’t hold your breath.
P.S. And before anybody says “SharePoint will let me collaborate over the web” – well they can just bite me.
Yeah, just what I want when I have deadline looming with ten minutes left to finish off a business proposal…to rely on an Internet connection.
Sheesh. Onenote is the only one I would want on the web!!!
#1
You don’t need a spreadsheet for those things.
You need a relational database.
Cursor_
With the browser tool bar and menu, the application toolbar and menu, an ad for Microsoft Live, and the application buttons, there is no room on my Acer Aspire One to look at data anyway. Thanks Microsoft. I am going to be doing my data locally.
What if I get to a coffee shop and wi-fi is down? Then it won’t be writing, it will be eating out.
#10 Reflexx
Well said. OneNote on the web is probably the best thing they could have done.