Microsoft puts Office online, targets Google

The world's largest software company is heaving its two-decade old set of applications — including Outlook e-mail, Excel spreadsheets and SharePoint collaboration tools — into an online format so customers can use them on a variety of devices wherever they can get an Internet connection.

Chief Executive Steve Ballmer presented an overhauled and updated set of offerings — collectively called Office 365 — at an event in New York City on Tuesday morning, underlining the company's newfound online focus.

It wants to push back against Google Inc., which has stolen a small but worrying percentage of its corporate customers with cheaper, web-only alternatives, which remove the need for companies to spend time on installing software or managing servers.

“It's obvious that Microsoft has to do this if they're going to remain competitive with Google,” said Michael Yoshikami, chief executive of money manager YCMNET Advisors. “It's something they have to do.”

Microsoft shares rose 3.7 percent on Monday, the largest gain in a single trading day since September, partly buoyed by hopes that it can ultimately boost profits by extending its software dominance to the growing cloud sector.

“If they execute effectively and it's adopted, it could be a game-changer,” said Yoshikami. “Whether or not that will happen is a whole other story.”

Microsoft has offered online versions of some Office programs — chiefly Outlook e-mail — for its corporate customers for several years, and last year rolled out free versions for individual home users.

The market for web-based software services is heating up, and every company, government department and local authority is getting pitches from Microsoft and Google whenever they reevaluate their office software.

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