Office Web Apps, Microsoft’s free SaaS answer to the Google Apps productivity suite, has gotten an update bringing cloud computing into the 1980’s (tongue in cheek intended) with the addition of new features including printing Word documents. Here’s the update on the update.

Matthew Weinberger

August 25, 2010

1 Min Read
SaaS: Microsoft Updates Free Office Web Apps

Microsoft Office Web

Office Web Apps, Microsoft’s free SaaS answer to the Google Apps productivity suite, has gotten an update bringing cloud computing into the 1980’s (tongue in cheek intended) with the addition of new features including printing Word documents. Here’s the update on the update.

That printing update is the most basic of the basic, and yet one of the most-requested: when editing a Microsoft Word document in the browser, the file menu now contains the option to print.

On the Excel Web App front, the Microsoft blog highlights two new features — chart insertion and auto fill handle. The former is fairly self-explanatory, but the latter means you can drag the contents of one cell into the ones adjacent the same way you do on the desktop version of Excel.

PowerPoint Web App gets clip art and access to the Office.com image library of copyright-free pictures. The blog entry also indicates they added more presentation themes.

On the one hand, this update shows Microsoft’s commitment to Office Web Apps as a platform and a product. On the other, I’m still waiting for the kind of major cloud innovation that Google and others have shown.

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