Project Albany Moves into Google Turf

  • By Kurt Mackie
  • 04/22/08

Microsoft revealed Friday that its code-named "Albany" project is a consumer-oriented hosted service that provides Excel, PowerPoint, and Word applications, as well as security and collaboration tools.

The Albany service has some similarities to the free Google Apps cluster of online applications, although Albany won't be free. Albany currently is available only to a private group of beta testers, according to an announcement issued by Microsoft.

Talk of Albany's existence surfaced last month after beta testers began receiving invitations for the trial.

Albany, when released, will be a subscription-based service that includes access to the Microsoft Office Home and Student 2007 productivity suites, along with a collaboration tool that works with Office called OneNote. In addition, Albany subscribers will get Windows Live OneCare, which provides security updates and PC performance tuning. Other Windows Live applications planned for the Albany bundle include, e-mail, messaging and photo gallery space.

Users will be able to save their files to online workspaces and collaborate with others via a connector on the Office toolbar. A single Albany subscription can be supported across three PCs, according to Bryson Gordon, Microsoft's Albany group product manager, in a released statement.

Gordon described Albany as part of Microsoft's "software plus service" approach, in which some of Microsoft's products will be delivered online, rather than installed at the customer's premise.

"Albany is also another prime example of how we are delivering on our software plus services strategy of offering customers a combination of the rich performance and capabilities that you only get from software running on a client PC with the convenience and connectivity of the Web," he stated in a press release.

Pricing and availability of the Albany service will be announced sometime this year, he added.

About the Author

Kurt Mackie is online news editor, Enterprise Group, at 1105 Media Inc.

Featured

  • white desk with an open digital tablet showing AI-related icons like gears and neural networks

    Elon University and AAC&U Release Student Guide to AI

    A new publication from Elon University 's Imagining the Digital Future Center and the American Association of Colleges and Universities offers students key principles for navigating college in the age of artificial intelligence.

  • glowing blue nodes connected by thin lines in an abstract network on a dark gray to black gradient background

    Report: Generative AI Taking Over SD-WAN Management

    In a few years, nearly three quarters of network operators will use generative AI for SD-WAN management, according to a new report from research firm Gartner.

  • landscape photo with an AI rubber stamp on top

    California AI Watermarking Bill Garners OpenAI Support

    ChatGPT creator OpenAI is backing a California bill that would require tech companies to label AI-generated content in the form of a digital "watermark." The proposed legislation, known as the "California Digital Content Provenance Standards" (AB 3211), aims to ensure transparency in digital media by identifying content created through artificial intelligence. This requirement would apply to a broad range of AI-generated material, from harmless memes to deepfakes that could be used to spread misinformation about political candidates.

  • file folders floating in the clouds, with glowing AI circuitry and data lines intertwined

    OneDrive Update Adds AI Agents, Copilot Interactions

    Microsoft has announced new enterprise capabilities in its OneDrive cloud storage service, many of which leverage the company's Copilot AI technologies.