Document Management Roll-up: Office in the Cloud, Business Process Management to Follow

The release date for Office 2010 and SharePoint 2010 is out and about, but not everyone is happy with some of the details. Meanwhile, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer says the company has ambitions with this release for a fully functioning Office in the cloud.

Microsoft Aims For Office In The Cloud

The big news this week is, of course, is the announcement of definitive dates for the release of SharePoint  2010 (news, site)  and Microsoft Office (news, site). It’s on May 12 (for businesses) and June for home users, if you haven’t been paying attention.

You may also have come across Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer’s speech at the University of Washington where he outlined the company’s plan for its products and the cloud.

In his outline of Microsoft’s vision of the cloud, he described Office 2010 and the company’s ambition to run it from the cloud as the “most mainstream” effort Microsoft would be doing in cloud computing.

We're really taking Microsoft Office to the cloud, letting it run in the cloud, letting it run from the cloud, helping it let people connect and communicate and express themselves … That's one of the core kind of technical ambitions behind the next release of our Office product …” he said.

And already, 90% of the companies Microsoft is working with are happy to go with the elements of Office that are already in the cloud with “lot of good work … still going on for the consumer”.

Microsoft also plans to give its corporate customers the option of hosting the Web-based version of Office 2010 on their own servers in order to give them more control of the product.

Office 2010 Tech Guarantee Outlined

Speaking of Microsoft Office, details of the Technology Guarantee that will accompany the release of Office 2010 were finally explained by Jevon Fark, Sr. Marketing Manager for Microsoft Office on the Office 2010 Engineering blog.

And not everyone is happy. The Guarantee goes like this: consumers who have purchased and activated Office 2007 since March 5 and who purchase it up until September 30 will be able to download Office 2010 at no additional cost when it becomes available in June 2010.

To be eligible you need to:

• Purchase Office 2007, or a new PC with Office 2007, and activate it between March 5, 2010 and September 30, 2010.
• Have, or create a Windows Live ID.
• Redeem your Tech Guarantee before October 31

You will not be eligible for it if if you have Office 2007 through a volume license (typically business owners with five computers or more), promotional or not-for-resale copies, or bought Office 2007 through the Home Use Rights or Student Select programs.

However, some users say they feel “snubbed” by the fact that only those who purchased it after March 5 will be covered by the guarantee. Many of the comments on Fark’s post are from users in that situation and they’re just not happy.

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Tags: bridgehead software, business process management, cloud computing, cloud storage, datamonitor, document management, gartner, information management, microsoft, office 2007, office 2010, saas, sharepoint 2010

The release date for Office 2010 and SharePoint 2010 is out and about, but not everyone is happy with some of the details. Meanwhile, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer says the company has ambitions with this release for a fully functioning Office in the cloud.