Office Web Apps includes the web versions of Word, Excel®, PowerPoint® and One Note®. Office Web Apps is a part of Office 365 which Microsoft® will be releasing soon.
We’ve posted a demonstration video of Office Web Apps on our website here.
If your business is saddled with older versions of Microsoft Office and you’ve come to a decision point about upgrading, in the past you’ve typically had three options.
- Buy a new computer and package in the version of Office that you need. Office OEM is usually added for about $150 – $400 per computer, depending on which package you purchase.
- Buy the upgraded version retail. Retail usually cost from $200 – $500 depending on the version you need.
- Buy the upgraded version through Volume Licensing. Volume License purchases require a minimum of 5 licenses and often cost from $250 – $1000 depending on which type of license you purchase.
With Office 365 you’ll be able upgrade you’re entire office for a low monthly fee.
Microsoft is proposing a variety of plans, each with different features. Click here, to see Microsoft preliminary pricing for Office 365.
One of their best offers is the E3 plan which includes the ability to download and install one license per user of the complete Office 2010 Professional Plus. The E3 plan also includes one license per user of Exchange Online, SharePoint® Online, Office Web Apps and Lync™. Preliminary pricing indicates that this plan will cost $24 per user a month. We’re recommending that businesses mix and match the E3 plan with the E1 and E2 plans.
The E2 plan includes Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, Lync and Office Web Apps. For users who aren’t heavy users of Word, Excel and PowerPoint, the E2 plan, which starts at $10.00 a month, may be the best way to go. The beauty of Office Web Apps is that you don’t have to maintain installations of Office on a computer. The user only needs the internet to be able to access, change and create company files. This allows the user to easily transition from a work environment to a remote environment. They can even access and edit their
SharePoint documents on their Windows 7 phones.
Microsoft is also offering a simpler family of plans called the K Family for Kiosk Workers. The K2 plan, also starting at $10.00 a month, includes Office Web Apps.
By mixing and matching plans, you can give the full version of Office 2010 to users who will truly utilize it through the E3 plan, OEM or volume licenses and give everyone else Office Web Apps. You’ll save your company the difference in upgrade fees for Office 2010, Exchange 2010 and SharePoint 2010. You’ll also save on upgrade fees for the next version of Office.
If you’re interested in a free trial of Office 365 you can sign up here . For more information about
Microsoft Online Services call us at 619-301-3501.
