” ‘We certainly will have Web-based office productivity
services, no doubt about it,’ Microsoft president Steve Ballmer is
quoted as saying in tomorrow’s Financial Times.
The admission is no surprise. When Microsoft announced Office
2000 in June Ballmer also detailed a new set of Web-collaboration
services based on Office 2000 that will be hosted by internet
service providers Concentric Network and Verio, InterLand, and
AIS.
The services will be based on Microsoft Office, the package of
productivity programs that brought in 40 percent of the company’s
revenues last year. Ballmer would not say when the services
might be offered, and did not address the issue of whether
Microsoft would charge for use of the programs.”
” ‘This move by Sun really has no bearing on our product
development and marketing efforts,’ Andrew Dixon, group product
manager for Microsoft Office, previously told CNET News.com.
Microsoft already has versions of its Office products that run on a
central server, he said.”