News about Microsoft competing in the web ajax style application market have been circulating for a while now and have brought us the likes of Windows Live Mail and Live.com (reveiwed by my collegue Jamie Thomson). According to an article on the BBC website Microsoft may be planning to make versions of its word processing and spreadsheet programs available online as free applications earning revenue by way of adverts placed on the web page.
Microsofts move is probably a direct reaction to Google entering this market, its first app being Google Spreadsheets which I reviewed earlier this year. Google may also soon to be releasing an Ajax Word Processor they bought earlier this year called Writely.
Interesting enough a new startup company called Ajax 13 who's CEO Michael Robertson was responsible for bringing us the OS Linspire has come out with a similiar set of products such as ajaxWrite and ajaxXLS these products only work in Mozilla, I wonder if Microsofts offering will only work in Internet Explorer?