Microsoft is trying to kill Google. Seriously now. For the first time in my life I’m taking Microsoft seriously. After the company launched Bing last month, now Steve Ballmer and Co. said that Microsoft will release a free online version of Office. Microsoft Bing is improving fast, the traffic is going up, and for the first time people are talking about another search engine besides Google.

Google is offering a bunch of apps for free over the Internet, and Microsoft seems to like the idea as it will offer Office for free on the Web. Microsoft Office free version will become available as of next year, which means that Google Docs will have a serious competitor. This is a very good marketing strategy from Microsoft as the company was forced to provide something to compete against Google Docs.

This might be Google’s fault as they started a new war when it announced the development of the Chrome OS last week. Microsoft can’t just sit around and do nothing therefore Microsoft Office for free is a really good idea. If you think that everybody will use Microsoft Office 2010 then you are wrong because the company will not offer all the features of the desktop paid versions in the online free versions. Features like editing videos in PowerPoint and editing images in Word will not be available, but Microsoft will offer the basic features in the Office free version, just like Google offers with its Docs.

Microsoft is making a lot of money out of Office therefore a free version would mean less profit, however, the company will monetize the online free version of Office out of advertising, and other premium services.

via LA Times