Microsoft has now launched its cloud based application called the Office 365 to the public. As this service is now in public beta you can get your hands on it. As many of you might be aware this is an effort to get rid of most of the bugs which the application has and releasing a public beta suggests that it is their job to get them fixed during this time.
This beta version is available in 38 countries and in 17 languages and will follow some months of testing amongst businesses and users until it finally launches later this year. It combines of Office Web Apps with the hosted versions of Microsoft Exchange, Microsoft SharePoint and Microsoft Lync which is a toll for online communications.
In regards to the features, Office 365 lets you create and share documents, email and IM services, conduct online meetings and create public websites, quite similar to Google Apps. The company is also promising a 99.9 percent uptime along with protection features using the enterprise ForeFront security client. Once its launch the guys will offer different plans for small and large businesses. While the tools will also be available for the educational market where the guys will provide five different plans catering students, faculty and staff members.
Just like Google Apps, this service will also include the Office 365 Marketplace which will help businesses with some additional applications to improve the usability of this product.
|Via|
