Zoho webilises Office 2007

WHILE MICROSOFT yesterday had its big coming-out party for Office 2007, a somewhat smaller company is pointing ahead in a direction some watchers say Big Green should be looking.

In public at least, Microsoft's big argument is that you still need Office installed on your hard drive to get the full power of its productivity apps. The confusingly named Microsoft Office Live is basically a way to set up shop on the web and Microsoft has disclosed no plans to build a Word for the Web or similar.*

But Zoho, one of a crop of companies making web-based productivity apps, has just released a plug-in for Office 2000, 2003 and 2007 that webilises Word and Excel, letting users save files to their Zoho accounts so they can still work on the web when away from their PCs.

As Zoho evangelist Raju Vegesna notes on his blog: "This extends the Office functionality online offering mobility etc… or should I say ‘This is what Office Live is supposed to be'." µ

* Interestingly, I met Jacob Jaffe of Microsoft yesterday at the Vista and Office launch at Arsenal FC's Emirates Stadium in north London. When I asked him the direct question, ‘Is Microsoft working on an Excel for the Web, Word for the Web or similar?' he politely declined to answer.