The software giant is planning to offer Web-based office productivity services, including Microsoft Office, on its own service, in part to compete with Sun Microsystems' recently announced plans to offer Star Office, Ballmer said. But he declined to set a time table and hedged on specifics.
Customers care about functionality and compatibility.
Star Office was not very good at either one of those, and Star Office on the Internet will be whatever it is. We know customers are not going to give up functionality and compatibility with the documents, models, and presentations they've built. Analyst Amy Wohl, president of Wohl Associates, quizzed Ballmer for details on a teleconference. We also expect them to offer Microsoft Office as a Web-based service through ASPs and other third parties. But they'll have to do major changes in their licensing policies to make this really work to follow a real ASP model where customers can come and go at will.