MSFT has conceded that Google's Chrome OS and the Chromebooks the operating system powers are capable of doing real work, a reversal of its "Scroogled" campaign that once blasted the laptops as worthless.
Almost as an afterthought, MSFT announced it was bringing its free Office Online apps -- Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote -- to rival Google's Chrome Web store, the primary distribution channel for Chrome OS software.
MSFT released Word and PowerPoint to the store and said it will launch Excel Online shortly. It published OneNote on the store on Friday, April 11.
The move was largely symbolic: The Office Online apps have long been able to run within virtually any browser, including Chrome, the foundation of Chrome OS.
But by packaging the apps in .crx format and submitting them to the automated review run by Google, and thus publishing them to the Chrome Web Store, MSFT put its Office Online in front of Chrome and Chrome OS users and in a place they've been trained to look for Web apps.
It was also a repudiation of Scroogled, the name MSFT slapped on its attack ad-based campaigns that took shots at Google and its practices. Last November, MSFT targeted Chromebooks in an advertisement starring reality show "Pawn Stars" personalities who argued that the devices were not legitimate laptops.
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