Microsoft officially rebrands Office Web Apps as 'Office Online'
On the heels of its rebranding of SkyDrive to OneDrive, Microsoft has made another rebranding move -- rechristening its Office Web Apps as "Office Online."
Hints that the company was planning the Office Online rebranding emerged a couple of weeks ago.
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Microsoft execs, in a February 19 blog post announcing the change, noted the Office Web Apps name was confusing. The Softies also noted that many users couldn't find Office Web Apps -- which are the Webified versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote that Microsoft makes available for free and usuable inside a variety of Microsoft and non-Microsoft browsers.
Microsoft has added its four Office Online apps to the drop-down headers in Outlook.com and OneDrive.com to help users find them more easily. And as part of the rebranding, also as expected, Microsoft is providing users with a new place to more easily find and make sense of Office Online. Microsoft is making Office Online more discoverable on the Office.com site.
Microsoft officials announced intentions back in 2007 to rebrand and reposition the company's Office Online site. Until yesterday, Office.com was a place for Office subscribers to sign in, as well as a place for Microsoft to promote Office 365, locally installable Office client and server apps and a repository for templates and Office Store applications. Now Office.com is promoting Office Online front and center.