Microsoft plans free web-version of Office tools

San Francisco, Jul 14: The war between Microsoft and Google just gets tougher. After Google revealed plans to release the Chrome OS for free, Microsoft is all set to offer free Web-based version of its Office tools.

"Microsoft is finally making the conversion through the Web-based world. First, we saw that through Bing. Now we are seeing that through Office," said Jefferies & Co analyst Katherine Egbert.

The software giant will be offering the popular office tools online including, a word processor, spreadsheet, presentation software and a note-taking program. The company is also planning to host one Internet business version of Office at its own data centers at a yet to be announced fee.

Already accounting for success with the new search engine, Bing, the company is aiming at leading its free software users to the its ad-supported websites. But this move is bound to affect the sales of the most profitable unit of Microsoft.

OneIndia News