When Microsoft launched Windows, it made clear its goal to run the operating system

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in every PC at every home. Its goals have come a long way since then, as is evident with the positioning of its latest product Office 2010, codenamed Office 14.

This suite of applications, including the usual word processor, power point and excel, will be launched as a wave with the 2010 editions with a host of other products like sharepoint, visio, project and fast search. The segment that these products target is clearly enterprise and businesses.

“India happens to be the market where adaptation of our technology is the fastest,” Microsoft India information worker division director Sanjay Manchanda said. “It is here that Office 2007 is deployed in largest numbers,” he added.

When the company launched Office 2007, it sold 71 million licenses, on a base of 500 million users of Office 2003. Office 2010 has now had two million beta downloads. It was in Office 2007 that the company introduced a file format that was XML oriented and hence, suitable for posting on the web. Office 2010 goes all the way, positioning itself as a cloud-oriented application.

It comes with collaboration features that allows for users to share and work on the same application or document in real time. The secure platform that the company provides for such collaboration is sharepoint, though it is possible to collaborate for free on the internet through Windows Live.

“Apart from collaboration, the office suite provides for broadcasting power point presentations, thereby enabling official presentations on the cloud,” Manchanda said. “As our customers now span a wide range of verticals, we have attempted to make the products visible and easy for the end user too,” he added. Though its top vertical is still IT enable services and BFSI, it also has customers in manufacturing, government and retail.

The suite includes features for the home user like picture and video editing on power point, enabling internet links while note taking etc. Its fundamental design, however, is aimed at making office work more efficient and flexible.

“Rather than designing a cloud computing application for the sake of saving costs alone, we are adapting our products to changing work styles like working from home, mobile office and using smart phones,” Manchanda said. “Essentially, the aim is to enable computing and sharing on a flexible platform – a PC, a browser or a mobile handset.”