Microsoft Launches Beta for Office 365, a Cloud-Based Productivity Suite

Microsoft announced Office 365, what essentially amounts to their answer to Google’s many cloud-based services, like Google Docs. The service will have two subscription models: Office 365 for Small Businesses is best suited for 1 to 25 people at $6 a month, and Office 365 for Enterprises is a fully customizable version to better fit a company’s needs and will cost anywhere from $2 to $27 per user per month depending on what features the company desires.

Office 365 combines SharePoint Online, Exchange Online, Lync Online and the titular Microsoft Office.

The beta version of the service will become available later today to a select group of businesses, while the full version will become available at a currently undisclosed time next year in over 40 countries.

(story via Reuters and Mashable, pic via Mashable)