Microsoft is making available to thousands of pre-selected testers on September 17 the first Community Technology Preview (CTP) test build of its Web-ified version of Office.
(Check out some new screen shots of the Office Web Apps.)
Microsoft officials first announced plans for Office Web Apps — an offering that many industry watchers consider the Redmondians’ response to Google Docs — in November 2008. The Office Web Apps CTP originally was due to tester in August. Throughout the past few months, Microsoft officials have continued to stress that Office Web Apps aren’t meant to replace Office, but to complement it. (We’ll see whether that actually comes to pass, given tight IT budgets and the multiple-hundred-dollar price tag for client-based Office — two factors that seem to be doing Google Docs no harm among small- and mid-size business users, according to a new IDC study.)
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