For full disclosure, Ars is an Office 365 shop-but we use Google Docs, GTalk, and a number of other Google Apps tools to fill in gaps we perceive in Office 365. But Office 365’s strengths are less impressive when you look at how it trails Google’s live collaboration and social features. It blends perfectly with Microsoft’s desktop Office tools and even comes with Office 2013 Pro Plus licenses in its $20-a-month “Plan E3” form. They were simplified versions of their perpetually licensed namesakes: designed to run in Microsoft’s Azure cloud service, based on the same core technology, but substantially different in terms of how they were managed and deployed.Ĭombined with Web versions of Office applications, Office 365 has been both more and less than its Google Apps competition. It was an effort to stem the tide of Google Apps and other Web-hosted alternatives to Microsoft’s on-premises and privately hosted Exchange and SharePoint products. The Office 365 service was first released two years ago. At the same time, Microsoft will release for purchase the software products that make up Office 365-Office 2013 Professional, Exchange 2013, SharePoint 2013, and Lync 2013. Today, Microsoft flips the switch on the latest generation of its Office 365 Enterprise hosted collaboration service.

Microsoft Office lifestyle: making consumers more like enterprisers.Review: Microsoft Office 365 Home Premium Edition hopes to be at your service.

Microsoft Office 2013 Pro released to the masses, Office 365 updated.Review: Exchange and SharePoint 2013 ready for cloud-yours or Microsoft’s.

Mdaemon vs exchange 2013