Microsoft moving Office online in duel with Google

Microsoft today said that the 2010 version of its popular Office software will feature online collaboration as the technology giant duels "in the cloud" with Internet titan Google.

Microsoft made the announcement at the opening of a Worldwide Partner Conference in New Orleans.

Next-generation Office, Visio, Project, and SharePoint Server programmes to be released in the first half of next year are being given to tens of thousands of people selected to test the nearly completed software.

A key upgrade to widely-used Office is that online hosting will make it possible for users to access projects from any Internet-linked computers and to collaborate online in real time.

Office Web applications will be lightweight, browser versions of Word, PowerPoint, Excel and OneNote that provide access to documents from anywhere, according to Microsoft.

There will be online "co-authoring" capabilities in Word, PowerPoint and OneNote.

Microsoft's current version, Office 2007, allows online collaboration, but not in the real-time manner promised by its successor.