Following the launch of a preview flavor of Office 2013 last week, Microsoft made available for testing the preview of its new Office Web Apps on SkyDrive and Office 365 Preview.
The new launch provides users with the possibility to create, view or edit Word, Excel, PowerPoint or OneNote documents right from their Internet browser, without even having Office installed on their computers.
Those who have already taken advantage of what Microsoft's Office Web Apps has to offer to them before will enjoy a range of new capabilities, along with a brand new look for the preview flavor of the software, brought in line with the aforementioned Office 2013.
Mike Morton, Group Program Manager for the Office Web Applications team at Microsoft, explains in a blog post the main principles behind the new Office Web Apps:
- Anywhere Access – People should be able to access Office documents from any device with a Web browser. This means supporting standards (e.g. HTML) and ensuring compatibility across a wide range of devices.
- “Fidelity" with Office – Office documents should be displayed in the browser as the author intended. The Office Web Apps should preserve all edits and content, even when they don't support all of the features of Office on the desktop.
- Collaboration and Sharing – It should be very easy to share and work with other people. People can collaborate with anyone without having to worry about what software or device they are using.
