American software titan Microsoft Corporation has today revealed that its Microsoft Office Live Workspace beta, the new Web-based extension of Microsoft Office, is now officially open for public use.
Microsoft opens Office Live Workspace beta to everyone and anyone. Credit: Microsoft Corp.
The Office Live Workspace beta, which is now open for worldwide participation (English language only) allows people to access their documentation whilst online while also being able to freely share their work with others.
“Today’s announcement moves us further down the path of bringing a software plus services experience to people at home, work and school,” said Stephen Elop, president of Microsoft’s Business Division. “By combining the rich client experience of Microsoft Office with flexible, intuitive service offerings, we’re providing seamless computing experiences for our 500 million Office users worldwide.”
By taking advantage of Office Live Workspace, those much-touted 500 million potential users will be able to “organise documents and projects online and work on them from almost any computer.” Users will also be able to save, access and share more than 1,000 Office documents via a single online location.
By utilising Office Live Workspace in conjunction with Microsoft SharedView, documents can be shared with others in real time, while also being open for viewing through the browser along with the creation of handy Web lists and notes.
New features integrated for the Office Live Workspace experience include, an activity panel, notifications, direct links, multi-file upload, and improved sharing.
Since the unveiling of the private beta in October 2007, Microsoft claims that hundreds of thousands of people have signed up for the beta opportunity, with several thousands duly invited to provide constructive feedback based on pre-release usage of the application.
Office Live Workspace is also being trialled across students, faculty members and administrators at various US establishments of higher education such as the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Washington, and Vanderbilt University.
“Both in the classroom and in our IT operations, we have tried various forms of collaboration,” said Matthew Jett Hall, assistant vice chancellor, information technology services and associate chief information architect, enterprise infrastructure at Vanderbilt University. “Microsoft Office Live Workspace combines all the amazing ease of use that you expect from Microsoft Office with the convenience and security of Web-based storage. The best of both worlds allows you to collaborate, edit and share in ways that previously never existed. This is a great execution of a wonderful concept.”
In related news, Microsoft is also launching a new $100,000 USD sweepstakes for Office Live Workspace users based in the United States. Set to run through May 11 of 2008, the sweepstakes will offer up $100,000 as a first prize while an assortment of 30,000 other daily and weekly prizes will be issued. Those prizes include Xbox 360 Elite videogame consoles, Samsung Blackjack II smartphones, 30GB Zune music and media players, Expedia hotel and package coupons and Microsoft Office Professional 2007.
Eligibility for the $100,000 USD sweepstake is dependent on signing up for the Office Live Workspace beta,
The Office Live Workspace beta is completely free of charge and can be accessed by registering for immediate participation here. Microsoft has said that international language versions of the beta program should be available later in the year ahead of the official release of the final application.
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