Microsoft Office Live Workspace Open Beta Starts

    Recently, Microsoft has been actively working to transfer its office suite of software to a web platform. The central core of the entire system should be an online document repository where users can copy their files and share them (the online document editor will be screwed here a little later, it has been tested for six months now, known under the code name Tahini). Pre-registration of testers for this service began on October 1, 2007 . And then the moment came when they decided to put the product out of closed beta for public review. Since yesterday, the Office Live Workspace site has opened to all comers.

    True, registration still works in pre-recording mode, but the first testers that signed up in early October today, apparently, were put into the system. At least, even the first screenshots and videos appeared on the Internet with a demonstration of the functionality of Office Live Workspace.



    The Office Live Workspace online service is integrated into Office 2003 and 2007 office suites using a plug-in, after downloading and installing it you can upload files to the online archive with one click from the office application, as shown in the screenshot to the right, and there is even a synchronization function (when saving file on the local PC, it is automatically updated in the repository). Everything works without launching a browser or FTP client.

    Collective editing is organized simply. As soon as you close the document, it is updated in the repository and becomes available for download and editing to the one who requests it. Of course, from a technological point of view, this is more primitive than co-editing in Google Docs or Zoho, but, as we noted above, the Tahini online editor is not ready yet.

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