Nick Simons, Microsoft's program manager of Office Web Apps, wrote on the Office Web Apps blog last week that "we are opening up the Technical Preview and inviting more people to try out the Office Web Apps." For what Simons described as "a limited" time, Windows Live subscribers could head here to test-drive the platform.

The Office Web Apps Technical Preview gives Live users access to stripped-down versions of Excel, Word and PowerPoint. Microsoft describes the functionality in its current form as "modest." Right now, you can view Word, Excel and PowerPoint files in the browser and edit Excel and PowerPoint files. Eventually, the Office Web Apps blog promises, users will be able to edit Word files and access a OneNote Web app.

I decided to give Office Web Apps a little spin around the proverbial block, taking into account that quote-end-quote "modest" number of usable features. Despite its traditional stronghold on the desktop, Microsoft has been exploring ways to port a degree of its functionality to the cloud, and it would be interesting to see how this early attempt fared--particularly in comparison to Google Apps.

The results were decidedly mixed.

Word and Excel

With Office Web Apps, your documents end up on your SkyDrive. Uploading new documents, via the "Add Files" tab, is a snap. I started off with a Word and Excel document:

Clicking on your Word doc opens a new window of options: View, Download, Delete, Move, Copy, and Rename. All these are fairly self-explanatory. View allows you to search text for a particular term, or zoom closer, but (at this point) you can't edit documents displayed in the Word Web App:

The Excel Web App offers similar functionality:

In addition to being able to seek out information within a document through the "Find" option, you can also refresh data connections and calculate the workbook. But my issues began before that, when I tried editing my document on the Web. Clicking on the "Edit" icon for my "Excel test.xls" document gave me this:

"Excel Web App does not support editing files in this format (XLS)," the message read. Then the platform gave me the Microsoft equivalent of Apple's Spinning Beach Ball of Death: a never-ending load screen:

Then I uploaded an .xlsx file--the format native to Microsoft Office 2007--and that allowed me to edit:

I guess Microsoft really wants everyone using the newest version of Microsoft Office--both on their desktops, and in the cloud. But it makes me wonder: if some 80 percent of businesses were still using Windows XP before the Oct. 22 launch of Windows 7, then how many are still using older versions of Excel? Will Microsoft accommodate those users as it adds more functionality to its Web Apps, or has Redmond made the point of slamming the door completely on those users on older platforms who want added Web functionality?

My other question right now is, once Microsoft opens up an "Edit" function for the Word Web App, will users be able to work with a ".doc" file, or will they be required to use ".docx"? Because the last time I checked, ".doc" was still very much in use.

Tomorrow: PowerPoint, and a comparison to Google Apps