It can be used on any PC or Mac (and on many mobile devices) with any modern browser. People choose a free online productivity suite for two reasons: Now, let's get one thing clear right at the outset: If you think anyone will rigorously compare feature lists and specs for these two online services before choosing one, you are missing the point. , including my carefully crafted captions, to get the full story.) I took a much closer look at the Office Web Apps today, as well as revisiting my Google Drive and Google Docs account. And they include 7GB of SkyDrive storage. But instead of costing $149 (MSRP) for three installations of Office 2010 or one of the 2013 flavor, the web apps are free. The current Office Web Apps lineup includes the exact same programs as you'll find in Office Home & Student 2010 or 2013: Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote. And yet, they play an increasingly important role in the new Office ecosystem.

Those of us who use Office apps daily tend to rarely see the Office Web Apps. Over the past few years, Microsoft has steadily improved its free Office Web Apps to the point where they represent a credible threat to. In the kerfuffle over the pricing and licensing for Office 2013 and Office 365, a lot of people seem to have overlooked one salient fact.