Microsoft Office 2007 Enterprise Will Web-based of

In defending its choice to not field (at least to date) a Web-based version of Workplace, Microsoft officials generally play the "offline" card. No one will want to use Google Apps,Microsoft Office 2007 Enterprise, Zoho, Zimbra or (insert your favorite Web-based productivity pack here) because they don't allow users to work offline. It looks like that argument is about to fly out the window (no pun intended), given recent announcements by Zimbra et.al, that they are releasing offline-capable versions of their suites/browsers/tools. So what will be Microsoft's retort? Will Microsoft bow to pressure and lob a Web-ified edition of Office into the crowd? After all, Microsoft already has an offline workplace solution (Microsoft Office). Microsoft has the opposite problem that its competitors do: It needs an online offering that will sync up with its fat-client product. In spite of the growing raft of announcements around offline-Web-office solutions,Microsoft Office Professional 2010, I still don't think Microsoft is going to release a Web-based version of Office. (A Web-ified Microsoft Works — maybe; a Web-ified Microsoft Workplace — no.) Instead,Microsoft Office Professional 2007, as noted last week, I think the Softies will espouse a different solution: Release hosted versions of Exchange Server and SharePoint Server. This will give users — primarily small-and mid-sized customers — who are interested in Web-based hosted email, document-management and portal wares. Supplement these with some of the Office Live services that are out there, mix in some of the Windows Live products (instant messaging, blogging tools, etc.),Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2010, toss in a hosted version of Microsoft's Live Meeting conferencing service,Microsoft Office Enterprise 2007, and Microsoft would be able to claim it has an online/offline solution just as robust, ifnot more so, than those of its competitors.