Microsoft Albany - Office By Subscription?

ReadWriteWeb reports on Microsoft's rumored subscription application service, codenamed 'Albany':

"Albany, which is entering an external beta with trusted regular Microsoft beta testers this week, is a software bundle that includes Microsoft Office Home and Student, Windows Live OneCare, Office Live Workspaces, and a cadre of Windows Live components...

Albany will be offered as a subscription service, and users will be entitled to automatic upgrades for the duration of their subsciption contract. It's not quite a web app, but it does take a page out of the web app play book by going the subscription route."

Computerworld asks if you would Pay Forever For Office? Well, no, but the pricing will certainly be an interesting element in this strategy. Ars Technica hones in:

Microsoft has been commended for its Windows Live OneCare pricing, but Microsoft Office prices are widely criticized... Windows Live OneCare and Microsoft Office Home and Student 2007 are the only applications in the suite that are not currently offered for free."

While Information Week identifies the threat:

"Microsoft's assault on the Web is in no small part a response to advances by archrival Google. In recent months, the search engine company has introduced a host of new online services. Of those, the biggest threat to Microsoft is Google Apps. The offering features free or low-cost versions of Office-style productivity applications that are hosted on the Web."

Posted by Joe Caponi at 02:55 PM, April 18, 2008

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