Microsoft Corp. is experimenting with a subscription-based model to sell its popular Office software suite and other applications to U.S. consumers, as the company faces heightened competition in its core desktop-products market.
In a statement on its Web site Friday, Microsoft said that the program, code-named “Albany,” had been launched in a private beta testing, with plans to release the product before the end of 2008.
If launched, Albany will mark the first time Microsoft, the dominant maker of consumer office software, has experimented with a subscription-based Office product in the U.S. The company has already launched subscription-based versions of its Office products in some emerging markets.
The package will include the latest versions of word-processing application Word, spreadsheet tool Excel and presentation-software tool PowerPoint. It will also include security tools to blog viruses.
A Microsoft spokesman said pricing and distribution details for the commercial launch of the product hadn't been set and declined to comment on the planned launch date.
Bryson Gordon, group product manager for Microsoft Albany, said on the company's Web site that the test was designed to address consumer demand.
“Consumers...expressed frustration at having to spend time and effort installing different types of software, keeping current on new versions and getting their computers set up,” he said.
“We found from our research that when yo bring these categories together and keep them automatically updated, a subscription model makes a lot of sense.”
The test comes amid heightened competition from search gaint Google Inc., which has recently been making applications, including word-processing and spreadsheet tools, available free over the Internet.
Other Internet companies, including Yahoo Inc. and Salesforce.cm Inc., have recently been making similar business and office applications targeted at consumers and small businesses available free over the Internet.
By: Jessica Hodgson
Wall Street Journal; April 2008
