Yesterday, Microsoft(MSFT) announced that Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote will have a new home in the cloud.  I previously had concerns on how MSFT was going to handle/compete with products such as Zoho, Google Docs and SlideRocket and IBM’s Lotus Symphony.  Not to say that they couldn’t, just when were they going to release some products to protect their core business.

However, this new announcement lets me know that they are thinking about how the industry is changing and how it effects their core product offerings. This is definitely a good strategic move for them. They are in a position to take advantage, considering their market share. Consumers are already familiar with their products, so this could be a easier transition, versus them moving over to a new brand.

In, Bill Gates’ book, “The Road Ahead” , which I read in college, he hints at some of this, and I’m glad that it looks like its coming to fruition.

Related Articles:

From FT.com Microsoft in online Office demonstration

From Gigaom.com Microsotf Office is Coming to the Cloud

I’ve been quite anxious to test this out. I was supposed to be on the beta list, but I never got to test it out. SlideRocket is a presentation tool, much like Microsoft’s PowerPoint.

On their homepage they say “SlideRocket vs. PowerPoint – Like with bullets instead of pebbles.” If you haven’t seen the demo its capabilities, check it out – it looks great!

I’ll write some additional thoughts once I have time to create my own presentation with it. 

Excerpts from their email:

PRICING

COLLABORATION FEATURES

SlideRocket has some great new features that allow you tocollaborate with your peers. SlideRocket takes the “labor” out of Collaboration and empowers teams to make great presentations together.