web apps

Everyone loves clouds these days in corporate computing, and the concept will be a big part of the buzz at the CeBIT information-technology trade fair in Germany March 2-6.

Tasks that we used to do with a desktop computer are often being shifted into the "cloud," meaning that some nameless computer, often on another continent, is helping do the job or save the data.

"It's not just big companies like Microsoft and IBM that are going in for this. Quite small companies will be showing cloud products at CeBIT," said trade fair spokesman, Hartwig von Sass.

Microsoft offered a sneak peak of Office for Mac 2011 on Thursday at the Macworld 2010 expo in San Francisco. Office for Mac 2011 will be available later this year and includes new connections to Microsoft services to improve compatibility and help users collaborate more effectively.

Among the new features are co-authoring tools and web apps. The new tools allow users to work on Word, PowerPoint and Excel files from different locations via a Microsoft Office Web Apps connection.

While much of the technology world is focused on the innovations rolling out at the Consumer Electronics Show this week, Microsoft is priming the pump for Office 2010 sales. The software giant on Tuesday revealed pricing details on the next version of its productivity suite.

Not surprisingly, Microsoft will offer Office 2010 in four versions, Office Professional, Office Home and Business, Office Home and Student, and Office Professional Academic. Microsoft said the multiple packages aim to make it easier for consumers to choose the most appropriate version.

Google is showcasing how its Chrome OS will change the user experience when it launches before next year's holiday season. The new operating system will initially appear on netbook-style devices that will feature bigger keyboards than today's netbooks offer, the company said.

First and foremost, the Chrome OS design team is obsessed about speed, noted Group Product Manager Caesar Sengupta and Engineering Director Matt Papakipos.

With the public beta of Office 2010, Microsoft is offering an intriguing future for the world's most popular productivity suite. The new version features integration with web-based, lightweight versions of Word, Excel and PowerPoint; a mobile version; and social-networking features bolted onto Outlook.

Some big companies are starting to move their spreadsheets, word-processing and other productivity programs off of PCs and on to the Web.

About 20 percent of respondents to a study by researcher IDC say Google's Google Docs offering is widely used in their organization, up from 5.8 percent a little more than a year and a half ago.

When Google first announced the offline, beta version of its Google Sync tool in February, users were clamoring for push support for Gmail, Google's free e-mail service. Google has now given users what they want.

The Internet search giant released Tuesday its push Gmail support for Google Sync on the iPhone, iPod touch, and Windows Mobile devices. Douglas Gresham, Google Mobile's software engineer, announced the support in an official blog posting.

Microsoft took the cover off its Web-based versions of the Microsoft Office suite on Thursday, at least partially. The software giant offered what it calls the Office Web Apps Technical Preview program that will allow a select group to give the software a test drive before the official beta rolls out later this year.

Twitter is reporting details on a hack that leaked internal Twitter documents to news Web sites, including TechCrunch. The social-media superstar is exposing the root of the vulnerability that allowed an attacker into an administrative employee's e-mail account.

Microsoft unveiled a technical preview of Office 2010 at its 2009 Worldwide Partner Conference in New Orleans on Monday and said it intends to invite tens of thousands of business partners to test the new software in advance of the suite's commercial release in the first half of next year.