Most people need to use an office suite of some sorts. These are great for word processing and working with spreadsheets. Most people use Microsoft Office to meet these needs. With the explosion of online office suites, Microsoft is now going to give away a new version of Office that is free and also is online. There are a few things that you need to know about this new application.
Since most people are using Office as their main office suite, this offers you a huge advantage. You can have a free version of this program that is compatible with most people's documents as well. This means that you don't have to make a purchase of the application but can still be using what others are using.
This office suite will work on any platform. Many have had issues with running Office in things like Linux and in the past the Mac. This online version will work on any platform just like you would expect from other office suites that you can use online.
There are a number of downsides to also consider from this move. First of all, this free version is going to be ad supported. This means that part of your screen is going to have an ad on it at all times. Many are used to seeing ads online but not in an office suite.
Microsoft is heavily pushing their OOXML standard. This is something that they would like for everyone to be using over other formats. There are other groups trying to push open formats. The question is whether this will always be free is OOXML catches on.
Will your documents be stuck in Office forever? There is a chance of getting stuck in this format once you make a variety of documents in it. There is no word on long term plans of this always being free or not.
Other office suites are already offering you a wider variety of formats to choose from. Some of these are formats that are never going to change since they are open meaning you as a user have control over your documents versus being stuck on a certain format.
source: http://goo.gl/JgSf3
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