Get a sneak peek of Microsoft's Office Live Workspace service

When Microsoft announced on September 30 its strategy for taking on Google Docs -- via a forthcoming service known as Office Live Workspace -- the company declined to show off a preview of the new service.

(As a result of Redmond's reticence to play show and tell with the new service, some company watchers deemed the service nothing but vaporware, and wondered whether Microsoft's announcement of Office Live Workspace was simply meant to freeze the market.)

On October 17, Microsoft conceded and shared a few screen shots of Office Live Workspace, which is expected to go to a private group of testers next month.

Office Live Workspace is, in Microsoft’s words, “a new web-based feature of Microsoft Office which lets people access their documents online and share their work with others.” It’s aimed at consumers and small-business users. Office Live Workspace is a password-protected SharePoint workspace, hosted by Microsoft. It’s a place users can store and access documents for work, school and home.

Microsoft officials still aren't saying when they expect to field either a public beta of Office Live Workspace or the final version of it.