The next release of Microsoft Office, codenamed “Office 14”, is to include a completely web-based version of the popular tools in the Office suite, including Microsoft Excel, Word and PowerPoint.

A technical preview of these web-based tools was expected to be out and accessible to the general public by now, but apparently those plans have changed.

Ina Fried over at CNET posted an article about Microsoft’s web-base office tech-preview:

It’s currently being used by fewer than 1,000 Microsoft employees, as part of a test that started last month and is slated to go through February. Consumers won’t be able to try a test version of the products until sometime next year. Microsoft isn’t saying when, but I’d say you’ll have plenty of time to try the Windows 7 beta before you have to worry about testing the Office Web apps.

I’d previously written about Microsoft’s strategy with SharePoint being flawed in that they weren’t focusing enough on emerging web-based editing tools such as Google Docs and other Wiki-style solutions and instead focusing on integration with the desktop version of Microsoft Office.  After personally seeing a preview of Microsoft’s plans for Office 14, I can say that they’re heading in the right direction.  The big question will be: can they execute on the vision?  Plus, with lots of companies tightening their belts, perhaps for an extended period of time, will more companies give alternative desktop publishing tools, including OpenOffice, another shot at replacing Office?

Filed under: Enterprise Web, Microsoft, Wikis