Paul Sakuma/Associated Press Chris Capossela, a senior vice president at Microsoft, talks about Microsoft Office 365 at a news conference in San Francisco.It has been a busy year inside Microsoft: the company is getting ready to introduce an entirely new mobile platform and a new type of Xbox gaming interface that uses the human body instead of a traditional controller. Now it is offering a new kind of Microsoft Office suite, called Office 365, which is based in the cloud.
In a press release on Tuesday, Microsoft said this new product was “the company’s next generation in cloud productivity” and that it “brings together Microsoft Office, SharePoint Online, Exchange Online and Lync Online” into a single product that can be used by businesses and individuals.
Office 365 will also make it easy for employees to collaborate with coworkers on projects through a browser, without having to install software on a computer.
The new office suite will be available to smaller companies with fewer than 25 employees for $6 a month. Microsoft will also offer an array of options for larger businesses and government organizations, priced at $2 to $27 a month for each user, depending on the size and type of organization.
By offering this service, Microsoft is making a number of gambles.
Some businesses could still fear cloud-based computing, especially with sensitive documents, for both security and reliability reasons. Microsoft is also taking a chance that it can command the same profits as it does from its desktop software products by relying on customers to pay a smaller amount for Office 365, but to pay on a monthly basis.
Some companies might even choose to skip the new Microsoft option and go with a free alternative like Google Docs, Google’s own online office suite.
But Microsoft hopes to entice customers with its deep knowledge of and history with productivity software and its broad customer support options.
In addition to Microsoft’s announcement on Tuesday, MarketResearch.com, an online technology research firm, released a report that says cloud computing, which is being offered by a host of companies including Amazon, I.B.M. and now Microsoft, could become a $25 billion market by 2013.