Microsoft Launching Google Docs Competitor, Office 365 This Month

Google took the lead ages ago by providing a free Office suite replacement on the web. Microsoft followed suit and it has been working on a web-based office suite called Office 365. It’s been in beta for a long time and it’s finally time to be launched. According to Neowin, the suite is all set to launch sometime this month.

Free services for consumers also available

According to a Tweet post by Jon Roskill from Microsoft, the date set for the launch this year on the 28th of June. He also states there are some 100,000 customers on beta. The beta first launched in late 2010 to limited users after which it was made available as a public beta in April, this year. Those who register for the beta will also get an additional month of free access to the service. The Office 365 suite will include Exchange, SharePoint, Lync (which isn’t available to Mac users) and Office Web Apps 2010. To compete with Google’s mostly free Docs service. Microsoft also has a free version available for non-business or enterprise users. Docs.com is one of them. For business users, the schemes for Office 365 start from $10 a month to $27 a month.

Computex 2011: Windows 8 Build 7985 Demoed

At Computex 2011, several attendees managed to get a glimpse of the latest build of Windows 8. The build - 7985.fbl_core1_kernel was reportedly readied on May 3 to make a partner preview of the same possible at the event in Taipei. The complete build string, 7985.fbl_core1_kernel_cptx.110503-1501 clearly reveals the same. The Milestone 3, however, comes sans a couple of shell changes that Microsoft introduced, among which was the superbar user account image integration.

Heavy buil(d)t!

The Windows 8 interface does pick up some cues from Windows Phone 7, but that ends there. Windows 8 allows users to launch apps using the tile-based start screen, and will be a replacement to the good old Windows 7 start up screen. Among the applications included are live tile notifications and the ability to naturally switch between applications. Users now also have the provision to snap and resize an application to place it on the side of the new touch screen user interface. 

At the All Things Digital D9 conference, Microsoft did raise the curtains over the new Windows 8 user interface. It was at the conference that Steven Sinofsky, Microsoft's President of the Windows Division mentioned the company’s plans to reveal some more details at the BUILD conference in September.

Computex 2011: Microsoft Previews Windows 8 OS

A major player on the third day at Computex was Microsoft. They dropped some major news by previewing the next generation of the Windows operating system code-named Windows 8. Mike Angiulo, Corporate Vice President of Windows Planning, Hardware and PC Ecosystem at Microsoft demonstrated how the new operating system is optimized for newer touch-centric hardware, including tablets in a technical preview. Windows 8 new Start menu (Image credit: All Things D) This demonstration highlighted the ability of the new OS to work across both x86 and ARM-based architectures, with a variety of early prototypes shown running the new operating system. Speaking about the new OS, Angiulo said that their aim with Windows 8 is to make the user experience a natural extension of the device, from the time you turn on your PC through how you interact with the applications you know and love. He goes on to say that this represents a fundamental shift in Windows design that they haven’t attempted since the days of Windows 95, presenting huge opportunities for their hardware partners to innovate with new PC designs. In January, it was announced that Microsoft and silicon chip makers AMD, Intel Corporation, NVIDIA Corp., Qualcomm Inc. and Texas Instruments Inc. would work together on the next Windows OS. The announcement also says that the new user experience extends to how applications will run on “Windows 8,” with controls naturally fitting into the device experience. It said that developers would also be able to use common Web technologies, such as HTML5 and JavaScript, to create applications for the PC, further easing integration and adoption. In order to aid developers in building applications for the new operating system, Microsoft formally opened registration for its new developer conference, BUILD, which will take place Sept. 13–16, 2011, in Anaheim, California. A brief view on the features of Windows 8 – Apps can be launched faster from a tile-based Start screen; thus replacing the Start menu with a customizable full screen view of apps Apps can be switched between in a fluid manner Snap and resize an app to the side of a screen; thus enabling multitasking capabilities Developers can use common Web technologies such as HTML5 and JavaScript to create apps for PCs