Office Web App real-time co-authoring preview: is it the pie in the sky?

Microsoft has given us a sneak preview of the up and coming updates to its Office Web Apps. The main feature will be co-authoring which has a collaborative split screen vibe much like Google Docs. While co-authoring has been available since Office 2010, the real-time collaboration feature across multiple OS devices is all new.

These featured apps (Word, Excel and Powerpoint) will work across Windows, Android and iOS devices for free. It’s also made clear that Microsoft is trying to make it work over as many browsers as possible. Will this be the pie in Microsoft’s Skydrive that’s will pull people away from similar cloud services offered by Google and Apple?

The 14 minute video by Office Garage guides us through the newest features Microsoft has been working on since the announcement in May. The main update is that you’ll be able to see where your co-authors are in the document and what they are typing real-time without having to refresh. Microsoft made other improvements such as adding find and replace in Word Web App to improving the general experience by speeding up launch times and making file management simpler.

The last few minutes of the video shows a garage blues band co-authoring a new song. The New Orleans group works together both online and offline to compose a new song real-time. It shows how once the lyrics and tunes are uploaded, the rest of the group simply start recording and writing from their smartphones, tablets and laptops. For example, the drummer of the band works on the chorus offline but is able to sync back up and collaborate on the song once he is back online again.

This is in stark competition with Google Docs which has had the collaboration feature for years now. The main difference seems to be the “split screen” co-authoring and the offline options. Apple also recently announced the integration of iWork and iCloud which will compete with Google Docs and Office Web Apps. So, Microsoft needs to get comfortable staying on its toes if it’s planning on winning this popular cloud race. As mentioned in the video the new features will be “available over the next several months.”

Below is an older clip (without the flashy blues band of course) showcasing the co-authoring feature close up.

http://youtu.be/4wdh-PE3OEk