We're always excited to see new ways people are using Office Web Apps to share documents. A few weeks ago, Microsoft released its 2010 Annual Report and, for the first time, anyone can view it directly in their web browser using Word Web App (or download it to their desktop if they prefer). Now investors can read the 10-K, letter to shareholders, or annual report, even if they're at a computer that doesn't have Office installed.And, thanks to the high-fidelity viewing experience in Office Web Apps...

Today the home page at http://www.office.com features a much richer way to preview templates than the wee thumbnails the site traditionally offers. Click a template, and it opens read-only in your browser, where you can see it full-size, exactly as it was formatted in the Office program where it was created. For Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, if you want to use the template, click Download to store it on your computer, where you can open it in your desktop Office program (the OneNote templates include...

On February 1 we said that the Office Web Apps (on Windows Live SkyDrive and Hotmail) would be available worldwide in March, and they have arrived! The Office Web Apps are now live in 18 new countries in Central and South America, including Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Puerto Rico, Uruguay, and Venezuela. Last but certainly not least, rollout to Central and South America marks...

Check out this post on the Office Blog ... "Facebook's new messaging platform integrates the Office Web Apps to enable Facebook users to view Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint documents with just one click." Office + Facebook = Easily share your ideas and documents with friends Nick Simons Program Manager, Office Web Apps

As promised , we’ve been busting our tails to make the Office Web Apps on Windows Live available worldwide and we’re nearly there. Starting today, people in over 150 more countries can use the Web Apps to view, edit, and share Office documents from anywhere with a browser and an internet connection. This includes viewing, editing, and sharing Office document attachments in Hotmail . The 150 new locations include India, Indonesia, Israel, Malaysia, Mexico, Philippines, Saudi Arabia, Singapore...

One of the interesting things about working on the Office Web Apps team is that we experience a recurring tension between the requirements of the past, present and future. For example, our mission demands that we interoperate with existing desktop apps, leverage present browser technology, and prepare for the future of the web platform--all in one product. Each of these could be a complete project in its own right, and so attempting to tackle all of them in a unified way is daunting to say the least...

As an engineer, I find myself frustrated with product blogs that spend all their time discussing the end-user experience while ignoring specific implementation details. For me, the most interesting classes in college were always the ones where guest lecturers would discuss specific challenges in developing their application, how difficulties were overcome, and why specific design decisions were made. With that in mind, I decided to talk a little about developing the Find feature in the Word Web App...

I’m writing this blog post immediately after watching Microsoft’s CEO, Steve Ballmer, give his 2011 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) keynote . I couldn’t help be amazed after hearing him exclaim: “Hotmail, which is the #1 email service worldwide, deeply integrating Microsoft Office - took major steps forward. In the first hundred days, we drove over 20 million people to use our Office Web Applications through Hotmail.” This got me to think about how far the Office Web...

Today the Office Web Apps (on Windows Live SkyDrive and Hotmail) became available in 15 new countries including China, Denmark, Finland, Hong Kong, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Taiwan, and Turkey. These additions bring the total number of countries to 26 – making the Web Apps available to more than 1/3 of all earthlings. Australia Austria Belgium Canada China (new) Denmark (new) Finland (new) France Germany Hong Kong (new) Ireland Italy...

When I talk to customers, they frequently ask, "If I have Office [the desktop apps], then why would I use the Office Web Apps?" It’s a fair question. Office is an extremely powerful and efficient set of productivity tools. I use Office every day. But the Office Web Apps have changed the way I think about content and how I use the Office desktop apps. In the past I have always stored my files locally. Even when documents needed to be stored in a shared location, I kept local versions of my files...