Microsoft's Answer to Cloud Computing: If You Can't Beat Them, Join Them

There is little doubt Microsoft is savvy when it comes to making business decisions. They recognized the emerging power of the web browser, entered into the first browser wars and obtained a smashing victory over rival Netscape long before cloud computing or the web as a platform were popular ideas.

Microsoft's biggest problem: They aren't always the technology leaders. Of course, history shows us that you don't need the best product to have the best-selling product. Just look at VHS vs Beta. And what Microsoft has done well is to recognize where the computing world is going and better position themselves for that future.

So it's no surprise to hear that the big 'M' is embracing cloud computing. After all, cloud computing may be Microsoft's worst enemy when it comes to keeping their Windows operating system the dominant platform, it's not going away.

Many companies might bury their head in the sand and keep trudging along the same path. But Microsoft isn't stupid; they know where that roads leads.

If you can't beat them, join them.

And so Microsoft announces Microsoft Office 2010, which may very well be the first version of Office worth purchasing since Office 200. But the best part is that many will be able to use light-weight browser-based versions for free.

In this day when free online word processors are becoming more and more feature rich and free alternatives like OpenOffice exist for those who want a non-web office suite, Microsoft Office 2010's inclusion of free light-weight browser-based versions of Word, Excel and PowerPoint is the perfect strategy. Not only will they gain back customers who may have eventually moved away towards the free alternatives, but they push it to the next level by including the ability to push documents from the stand alone versions to the web-based versions.

This is par for the course in Microsoft strategy: leverage your strengths to build up your weakness. Microsoft's been pretty weak in the cloud computing office arena, but in one fell swoop, they could very well become the leaders.

After all, Microsoft Office is by far the most popular office suite, and millions of people use it at their place of work. Being able to sign in from home and access your business documents through your web browser, make edits, and even collaborate with people at the office will definitely be attractive and could make the difference between using Google Docs or Zoho Office and using Office 2010.

Of course, Office 2010 has a ways to go before it overtakes the hilarious Microsoft Office 2010 video put out to help market it.