The Buckingham

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Microsoft recently introduced the newest version of their popular software package, Office.  The company announced that the new Office would also stand as an online service operated from the cloud.  The array of programs along with any user-generated content will be kept online in the cloud making it accessible wherever internet is available.

While storing and sharing content online, the new cloud version of Office will be used as a way of social networking with the addition of communication tools.  Chief Executive, Steve Ballmer called it the most ambitious release of Microsoft Office that we’ve ever done, and wennt to say it represented a new generation of one of Microsoft’s most profitable products.

This new direction for Office is driven by the realization that consumers, rather than businesses, are determining how computers will be used. As technology continues to become highly personalized and social, Office, whose audience is typically businesses, has changed the focus over to the consumer.  Analyst Rob Helm says Microsoft is trying to get ahead of where those consumers are going.

With the addition of the cloud and other innovations, Microsoft aims to satisfy consumers while contending with major competitors such as Google.  Some questions still remain unanswered, as they did not announce the release date or the price of the package.