Microsoft Rebrands Office Web Apps to Office Online and Launches Website Office.com
We suspected Microsoft had plans to rebrand its Office Web Apps, and now we have confirmation from the company it did change the brand name, indeed.
The reason, Microsoft explains, is partly in the confusion the word Apps created for its brand.
“We heard from customers that the inclusion of Apps in our name was confusing,” says Amanda Lefevre, a product marketing manager at Microsoft. “Are they something I install? Do I go to the app store to get them? No, to use them all you need is a web browser. Ah! You say. So it’s like Office, online. Yes, exactly. Office Online.”
So here we go, no more Office Web Apps, and thank Microsoft for that. However, there is more change and we suggest you head to Office.com website to take a look at the online version of MS Office. Surprisingly large number of users did not know it ever existed in OneDrive or SharePoint.
From now on. Office.com is going to be a dedicated website for MS Office products online, including Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote.
It goes without saying you will need a Microsoft account to be able to access the free online versions of MS Office. Files you will be creating will go directly to your OneDrive folder, which makes perfect sense.
Besides the evident brand changes, you will see a slew of new templates in the online mix, even though desktop users will find them familiar.
Moreover, online versions of Excel, Word, PowerPoint and OneNote got included in the app switcher, where the Outlook and OneDrive used to be, which means you no longer need to switch from various applications.
Microsoft has been applying rebranding extensively lately. Few of us know why SkyDrive became OneDrive. It appears Microsoft lost legal battle to a British satellite broadcaster BSkyB over the brand name "SkyDrive," so two weeks ago we saw Microsoft change the service's name in a dramatic makeover.
Clearly, Microsoft wants to win back the MS Office renegades who migrated to Google Docs and Google Drive, which is quite a big bunch of folks. The existing MS Office users will also benefit from knowing there, in fact, is an online version of their favorite and omnipresent software.
If you're not an MS Office fan, keep in mind there are a bunch of other good Office alternatives out there, both online and offline.
