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Microsoft Unveils Office 365 Cloud Platform For Business

by Terrence O'Brien on October 19, 2010 at 02:45 PM

Office 365 Ever since Google started cramping Microsoft's style by offering its top-notch suite of communications and productivity apps to schools and businesses, the boys and girls at Redmond have been working overtime to modernize their approach to the Office suite. The company is increasingly shifting its focus to sharing, collaborating and the cloud. The next step in Microsoft's move from software to service is Office 365, a direct challenge to the Google Apps suite.

At the heart of Office 365 are products you already know, including Microsoft's Office Web Apps, Exchange, SharePoint and Lync for video conferencing. The "small business" edition includes these services (plus support) for only $6 per user each month. The "enterprise" edition offers more control and customization, allowing administrators to set different levels of access for different users. In addition to the features available in the small business edition, the enterprise version offers pay-as-you-go-based access to Office Pro Plus desktop software and internal social networking tools, among other options. Enterprise can run anywhere from $2 to $24 per month for each user.

Microsoft will open up Office 365 to public beta later today, with the official launch in some 40 countries coming next year.

Tags: apps, cloud, microsoft, microsoft office, MicrosoftOffice, office, office 365, Office365, top, web

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