OK with today’s preview of Microsoft Office 2010 I started to look around at Microsoft and found this wonderful page regarding Microsoft Online Business. Now I know that this has been around for awhile but when I looked at it this time and I began to realize what Microsoft is laying out there; the Online Business pricing and the Office 2010 with online capabilities I am beginning to see a formidable force coming at the free online connections.
Now FREE has it’s place and Microsoft cannot be all things to all office needs. There are plenty of times when Google hits a home-run however I do think the Google attack on the Office Suite is going to come up short. At the start price may be a factor however in the long run it will be the tools that will count. At present the difference is in the are of $130 per user ($50/year at Google, $180/year at Microsoft) but the tools at Microsoft are superior.
Businesses that need the power of the Microsoft Office suite, Outlook for mail (Exchange) and SharePoint should look into this. SharePoint has many features that are only cobbled together at Google where it is all one package at Microsoft.
It would appear that Microsoft is returning the fire and bringing out the big guns.
