Office Live Web Applications beta delayed until 2009

At PDC 2008 in October, Microsoft unveiled its Office Live Web Applications and promised that Office Live Workspace users would get free access to the beta by the end of 2008. Apparently, that’s not happening now, though this is awfully vague: Those wanting to get their hands on the web-based versions of Word, Excel and PowerPoint will have to wait a little longer. Business division president Stephen Elop said in an interview in October that a technology preview of the browser-based applications would come this year, followed by a beta in 2009. However, it's currently being used by fewer than 1,000 Microsoft employees, as part of a test that started in November and is slated to continue throughout February. The public will not be able to try a test version of the products until next year — and Microsoft is not saying exactly when.