Microsoft May Give Away Works as a Free Webapp

Microsoft Works, the software company's other office productivity suite, may be offered free on the web as a hosted application. From the Reuters story:

The world's largest software maker is now mulling how it can move Microsoft Works, a basic suite of business software that often comes preloaded on inexpensive consumer PCs, onto the Web as part of its growing stable of free online services.

Microsoft continues to roll out new online services under the Windows Live brand and it started testing Office Live, a software for small businesses to create e-mail accounts, Web sites and collaborate on projects.

If this happens, Works will be supported by advertising and will probably have integration with Microsoft's other free online apps like Hotmail and Live Messenger. Works will likely serve as a sort of "Office Live Lite," because all of the real power features for office productivity will remain in Office Live.

At first glance, it may appear that Microsoft is grasping at straws here by trying to maintain some sort of edge in the Office 2.0 arena. But putting Works out there for free can only be a good thing -- for Microsoft as well as consumers. More choice is better.

[via Read/Write Web]