Microsoft Office 2010 Web Apps Online Word Excel & PowerPoint

The best feature till now with the new MS Office 2010 is that the availability of Online Versions of MS Word, Excel, Powerpoint & OneNote which makes you get access to your files anywhere and not just limiting you to use them on the same computer. This allows the users to view, edit and share their documents on any web browser on a PC, MAC or Linux based computer and maintain the same formatting within the files. Even if you upload your file to the online version, edit it there and again download to your desktop the formatting remains the same which means that you dont have to worry now about any changes to your hard work.

While you use other competitor services like Google Apps, Zoho, or OpenOffice.org you will find that the formatting is lost most of the times and since this is fixed in the current software, more people would try to use MS Office 2010 Package. The online versions are lot more better and have collaboration features which are advanced and would even be easy to use for people who are already habituated with the previous versions.

Unfortunately, development of the online functionality isn’t as complete as in the desktop beta version, so it’s impossible to fully evaluate these Web apps. But initial impressions were a bit disappointing. The online feature sets were a mere shadow of the desktop capabilities, though at least the layout and presentation were similar to the desktop beta. Performance of the test environment Microsoft made available was surprisingly sluggish, and navigating the online environment was often confusing. Creating a document, for example, didn’t seem possible, even though it was relatively easy to import documents.

Note: Business users will require SharePoint Foundation Services to use the Web apps, while individuals can get by with a free Windows Live account. Bottom line? Even as Office 2010 on the desktop clearly outclasses the competition, the online apps still have some serious catching up to do. The separate Office Mobile 2010 product, meanwhile, offers some of the same functionality, and also promises to preserve formatting, on Windows Mobile devices.