Remember the AOL/SUN alliance last Nov?... Microsoft will make its office software available through the Internet, according to a report in Friday's Financial Times.The news follows Sun Microsystem's announcement that it will provide word processing, spreadsheet and other applications on the Internet for free.
"We certainly will have Web-based office productivity services, no doubt about it," the FT quoted Microsoft president Steve Ballmer as saying.
Ballmer would not say when the services might be offered, and did not address the issue of whether Microsoft would charge for use of the programmes, the FT said.
The services would be based on Microsoft Office, the package of productivity programmes which brought in 40 percent of the company's revenues last year.
Ballmer told the FT that the big issue facing Microsoft (MSFT: news, msgs) and all other software companies was whether customers would in future want to pay for software which they would install on their own computers, or access it via the Internet.
INDEED, THIS WAS THE AOL/SUN ALLIANCE BOLD VISION. WHAT IF AOL DISTRIBUTES LINKS TO STAR SOFTWARE, DESKTOP OFFICE STUFF WITHOUT MSFT WINDOWS, ON MILLIONS AND MILLIONS OF FREE CDS?
JHG
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