Microsoft Unveils Office 365 Cloud Computing

Microsoft in an attempt to compete with Google Apps, is ready with Office 365. Microsoft Office 365 is a subscription service and will feature cloud computing. An analyst Jeffry Mann at Gartner Inc. said, Google Apps "was really the primary competitive target for this."

The Office 365 is Microsoft’s attempt to compete with Google and the likes in the field of web-based e-mail services. The new Office 365 will compete with the Google Apps, a web version of word processing and spreadsheets.

While the service from Google costs you roughly $50 each year, the new service from Microsoft comes with a price tag of $72 a year. This is the price you pay for businesses that has fewer than 25 employees. For bigger businesses, a blend of services will be offered for $2 to $27 per user. This will allow the companies to pick and choose options depending on the type and need of their employees.

Cloud computing is being regarded as the ‘next big thing.’ In a recently released report, it has been predicted that the cloud computing market will rocket to a $25 billion by the year 2013. The users of Office 365 will be able to access calendars, email and other applications from any of the device that uses ActiveSync all the 365 days a year. Currently, the software is in the beta test phase. The Redmond, Washington based company intends to launch the service in as many as 40 countries by next year.

Cloud computing utilizes remote servers to host and maintain the applications and enable the users to access information through either a computer or a mobile device. Gmail, is a classic example of cloud computing, which only requires a subscriber to visit a website and retrieve data.
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