Many months after the announcement of its development, Microsoft has finally launched Microsoft Office Live Beta, which is officially called the Office Web Apps. It’s only for a limited number of users of Windows Live is now open availability in spring 2010.

The users are on-line access to a web-app version of Word, Excel, Powerpoint, and OneNote, which should seamlessly integrate themselves with their offline counterparts. This is great news for consumers and businesses – allows users to securely share and collaborate on documents internally or access while driving on a laptop or smartphone.

Apparently Microsoft has already competition from existing online office suites like Zoho and Google Docs. It is true that many users will the Office Web Apps again because of the well-known brand and search. But existing users can be lured away GoogleDocs if Microsoft’s offer proves faster than molasses-like speeds we’re used to. If Web Apps is no improvement, then both businesses and consumers are likely to be with what they currently use the stick.