With the rivalry for internet based applications hotting up, Microsoft have announced that the it's latest offering (due at the end of this year) will be available in web forat to consumers and small businesses for free. This is clearly aimed at giving Google apps a run for their money.

Office 2010 web apps will include Word, Powerpoint, Excel and Onenote, allowing users to carrying on working remotely without having Office installed. The online versions will not achieve full functionality of the installed versions, but will relicate the fatures most lively for people working remotely will require.

Not surprisingly Google have responded to the announcement with its own statement that it will be revealing a shiny new interface for it's Google apps Docs at the start of 2010.

For those interested in the new functionality of 2010, Microsoft have finally succume to common sense and have reduced the number of versions of Office in the new format. The new ribbon interface introduced in 2007 has been further extended and improved to ease the transition for users finally making the move from Office 2000/2003.

For more technical details see the review at IT Pro.