Microsoft is announcing a free web-based version of its Office software.
Office 2010 will include lightweight versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote when it ships next year. The new web offering will compete with Google's free online Docs suite launched three years ago.
Microsoft said that 400 million customers who were Windows Live consumers would have access to the Office web applications at no cost.
At a conference for business partners in New Orleans, Microsoft announced an early release of web apps to thousands of testers later this year.
At the end of the year the company expects to release a proper public beta for the software and ship a final version off to PC makers in the first half of 2010.
