Giants tussle over office apps

Microsoft just announced one-click capability for Microsoft Windows Live customers to install Microsoft office applications over the Internet, one of the latest moves in the evolution of software as a service. The capabilities compete directly with Google Apps, which exploits Google's global search strength to ferret out software and other capabilities that can be packaged with a basic suite of office applications. The next step for these giants is to incorporate all the VoIP applications that business users typically would get from carriers.

What does this mean for telcos? Can they partner with either one of these giants to deliver office software-as-a-service? The small and medium-sized business market continues to be up for grabs, and these moves could greatly affect the larger enterprise market, too. Packaging office applications online, along with communications capabilities, could make the market a battle between two monoliths, and it's so far unclear how carriers can compete.

For more:
- Telephony covers the story, and here's more from InfoWorld