|
As you must already know, Office Web Apps are the online counterpart of MS Office. Office Web Apps have been associated with much anticipation over the past 6 months, till they were released a couple of months ago. There was talk of Microsoft finally catching up with, and even exceeding Google Docs. Along with the release of Office Web Apps, Microsoft also announced that there would be two ways to access them - free through a SkyDrive account, on a volume licensing basis through SharePoint 2010 for enterprise customers. Let us briefly understand how this works:- SkyDrive SkyDrive is a free online storage service available with a Windows Live ID by Microsoft, SkyDrive is. A user can store up to 25 gigabytes (GB) of files in their SkyDrive. Files can be arranged in a familiar folder and sub folder structure, and keep them "private" or "public" where they share folders using the emails of other collaborators. SkyDrive allows users to create Office Web App files (Word,PowerPoint, Excel) right from within their SkyDrive account, and store them in folders as they like. No local MS Office installation is required. This works with most modern browsers - Internet Explorer, FireFox, Safari etc. 
SharePoint 2010 Enterprise customers require an on-premise SharePoint installation to access Office Web Apps. Office Web Apps requires SharePoint Foundation 2010 which is free from Microsoft. This enables them access to Office Web Apps in a private cloud. Office Web Apps for enterprise customers requires volume licensing. To roll out the services in an enterprise environment, TechNet has documented specifics including planning and deploying Office Web Apps. The second is a costly option, but is certainly an argument for SharePoint 2010 over any alternative, which does not support Office Web Apps.
|
