Microsoft Works Suite To Be Free (And Ad-Supported)

Just last week, Microsoft executives let known the company’s plan to introduce a number of Web-based applications in the months and years ahead. Already, there’s mention that an office suite may be coming down the pipeline.

If you read the headlines about Microsoft’s new Works suite (a sort of “dumbed-down” Office equivalent) that have hit the Web in the past few days, you most certainly noticed the keywords “free” and “ad-supported”. And perhaps you thought the day had come that it would be sparring with Google’s variety of Web apps. Don’t be fooled.

That day hasn’t yet come. But the forecast looks promising. With a big maybe thrown in for good measure.

Noise about Microsoft Works Version 9 has been coming out of Redmond, which is somewhat unusual considering the fact that any announcements that typically have to do with productivity solutions are about MS Office. Windows and Office are, after all, Microsoft’s bread and butter. Works, on the other hand, is definitely no cash cow.

Yet chances are the complete Office package won’t be brought to Web-based form – at least not in the near future. It’s just too darn big and convoluted to migrate to the online realm of applications. Something lighter, less taxing would suite the average Web browser a bit more nicely.

Something like Works. It’s got the essentials – word processor, calendar, address book, etc. – without bearing the full weight of the latest and greatest feature sets. A collection of old, once-premier offerings which Microsoft basically sells because it can, it is a standby that could have itself reinvented to perform online, finally placing the company in competition with the variety of suites currently populating the Net. I know what you’re thinking. It should’ve been there from the start. And I agree.

Unfortunately, from the looks of things, Microsoft loves playing cautious, and even appears like it might be doing so with the new version of Works. A company representative has said that Works Version 9 will first be a free desktop-based product, supported by advertising (I presume the company will not gather too much revenue), and later brought to the Internet browser, which is a plan not officially confirmed at this point.

How incredibly frustrating Microsoft can be. Never bold outright. Slow to the mark. And so unexciting it nearly drives one to boycott its existence entirely.

Get moving Microsoft. If you don’t, you’ll be left behind. Then be left to target those which circumvented your power with lawsuits about infringements made on your patent rights and whathaveyou. How sad a downfall that would be.