Google took the lead ages ago by providing a free Office suite replacement on the web. Microsoft followed suit and it has been working on a web-based office suite called Office 365. It’s been in beta for a long time and it’s finally time to be launched. According to Neowin, the suite is all set to launch sometime this month.

So if you are looking for alternative of Google Docs, then you can have one now!

It has been confirmed by multiple people within Microsoft that Office 365 will launch later this month - specifically on 28 June. This follows a beta testing cycle that was initially limited to a select audience from October 2010 - and then was expanded to general availability from April 2011. The story was initially shared in a small post on Office 365 NZ yesterday. Details were confirmed later in a tweet from Microsoft Partner Director Jon Roskill.

It was also noted that Microsoft has drawn some 100,000 customers to try the Office 365 beta. As the beta has only been broadly available for a few weeks, it is anticipated that many more companies will jump onboard and try the beta before the launch on 28 June. One benefit for those who sign up for the beta is that in addition to free access to Office 365 during the remainder of the beta period, users will also have 1-month free usage, following release.


Office 365 is Microsoft's strongest launch into cloud services for it's broad global base of users. In 2010, Microsoft made it's Business Productivity Online Suite (BPOS) available, however it was limited to using outdated versions of Microsoft Exchange and Microsoft SharePoint from 2007. Office 365 fixes that by bringing Microsoft's latest offerings to the cloud - Exchange 2010, SharePoint 2010, Lync 2010 and Office Web Apps 2010. The highest end offering of Office 365 also includes a subscription license of Microsoft Office to install on user PCs and Laptops

Source : Neowin