Office 2010 Web Apps
Perhaps the most-hyped component of Office 2010 is the availability of online versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote. The promise has been to let users view, edit, and share their documents in any modern Web browser -- on any PC, Mac, or Linux device -- while retaining fidelity in terms of formatting. In fact, Microsoft Web apps promise round-trip format fidelity, so that if you create a document in Office 2010 on the desktop, edit it on the Web version, and then send it back to the desktop, the formatting will remain in place.
That's a big deal, as that formatting can sometimes be lost when working with even ostensibly compatible office suites like Google Apps, Zoho, or OpenOffice.org.
The online versions of Office 2010 also promise advanced sharing and collaboration features, even with people who use earlier versions of Office or a different productivity suite.
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. bMighty was not able to test Office Mobile 2010.
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