Microsoft Office Live, the long rumored online version of Microsoft Office, has gone Beta.  Sadly, it is leaving most people underwhelmed.

With the wealth of online office applications out there in the marketplace now, it’s hard to believe that Microsoft would shoot so low with their offering, but it did.

Some of the “highlights” of the new offering include:

• Limited functions in the online version.
• If someone has a file opened to edit, it’s locked to every one else for editing.
• Still need a copy of Office.
• Internet Explorer is the only way to get full functionality.

In other words… it’s a Microsoft product.  They are playing catch-up in a marketplace that is already burgeoning with decent products, and then fall short of matching those products.  Their hope will be to have their name carry them, but with excellent, and free, alternatives out there, you would have thought they would aim a bit higher on this one.

True, this is still a Beta, and there is time for changes, but when was the last time you saw radical differences between a Microsoft Beta and Gold Master?

Related:

Entry was posted on Monday, December 10th, 2007 at 6:14 pm under Microsoft, Opinion.

Read more entries by Sean P. Aune.
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