Microsoft Office Apps Lite
As I was writing my last post about my experiences with Google Spreadsheets, I began thinking of some options for other solutions. If Microsoft wanted to shore-up some market share and make sure that webtop apps didn’t cut too much into their core business of packaged software delivery, they could offer a free, but stripped-down version of their basic Office applications.
Microsoft Office Lite, wouldn’t be much more than a collection of some of the free viewers they’ve already made available for core products in their suite. It’s also been mentioned by a number of other individuals around the Internet.
- FAQ: OpenOffice
- Microsoft Office ‘lite’ for the Web in the works?
- Best of Free Software - Sunday, August 27, 2006
Most of these mentions though have been quite awhile in the past and are only speculating the development of something like this from Microsoft. You get nothing if you search for “Microsoft Office Lite” on Microsoft’s website.
Let’s think this through though. What if Microsoft offered a free or $19.95 stripped down version of their core Office apps Word, Excel, PowerPoint and maybe Publisher? These apps could obviously open any of their original file types, as well as do 70% of the average tasks needed by users.
You’ve got somewhat this type of cooperation between Outlook and Outlook Express right now. For Word, it wouldn’t be much more of an upgrade from Word Pad, just let you save as a .doc type and not lose any formatting that someone else could see in the full-blown version. I say add Publisher to the mix because I’m frequently working with clients who have mocked something up for a website I’m working on in Publisher. Luckily I’ve got Publisher already, but I don’t have it installed everywhere, or I’m at someone else’s computer where I need to open a document real quick to share it with someone. Could be a great option for a “Lite” HTML editor as well, although they’ve ditched the FrontPage app completely.
I think doing this would also encourage more loyalty to Microsoft products and provide a potential stepping stone for people to upgrade to the “premium” versions of the software packages if they find themselves pushing the boundaries of the “Lite” app.
Tags: Excel, FrontPage, Microsoft-Office-Lite, Outlook-Express, PowerPoint, Publisher, simplified-apps, Webtop Apps, WordRelated Stories
POSTED IN: Excel, File Formats, Microsoft, New Products, Office Live, Outlook, PowerPoint, Publisher, Speculation, User Experience, Webtop Apps, Word
1 opinion for Microsoft Office Apps Lite
Brian Prows
Jan 12, 2008 at 2:32 am
Jason, I’ll jump to the plate. With all the talk about Vista Lite, I say, throw away your disks and let Redmond take care of all your needs. A vision of Microsoft’s future is at MarketingBeyond’s
http://marketingbeyond.typepad.com/marketingbeyond/2008/01/microsoft-news.html
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