Microsoft recently announced that its venerable Office apps were to be made available as web apps. They are now available for signup: Word, Excel, Powerpoint and OneNote.
The system uses Microsoft’s SkyDrive system via Windows Live, and of course joins an already crowded marketplace that includes Google Apps. Apple, too, has joined the movement, with its iWork productivity suite becoming available as web apps.
Use of these apps is free … are they the wave of the future? It does seem as though people have stopped predicting the replacement of computer-based productivity apps, even hard drives and local data storage, with cloud computing. But apparently there is still a market for this software online.