Microsoft on Tuesday announced online versions of its Windows operating system and other popular software programs, hoping to defuse a growing threat from Google and other fast-moving challengers.
With a new web service called Windows Live, Microsoft hopes to create a new platform that will unfasten some of its applications from a computer hard drive.
The change reflects Microsoft’s recognition of the growing demand for applications and services that can be used from any place, at any time, as the lines between the home and office blur and portable computing devices become more powerful.
”It’s a revolution in how we think about software,” Microsoft chairperson Bill Gates told reporters and industry analysts on Tuesday. ”This is a big change for … every part of the ecosystem.”
In many cases, Windows Live — available at Live.com — will offer souped-up versions of services such as online mapping and instant messaging that have long been available on Microsoft’s MSN.com, a heavily trafficked site that will continue to operate.
Gates emphasised that neither Windows Live nor another service called Windows Office will replace the operating system or other popular applications, such as word processing and spreadsheets, sold on disks that are installed on individual hard drives.
Windows Live will be offered for free and try to make money from the rapidly expanding online advertising market that has been fuelling the explosive growth of Google and Yahoo!, providing them with the financial and intellectual firepower to challenge the world’s largest software maker.
Microsoft also plans to charge monthly fees for some of the Live Office features aimed primarily at small businesses — a subscription model that has been a boon so far for online software pioneers such as Salesforce.com, NetSuite and RightNow Technologies. — Sapa-AP