Microsoft will launch an all-in-one subscription service for many of its key productivity applications, the company announced Friday. Code-named “Albany,” the service will give subscribers instant access to the latest versions of Microsoft desktop software, ongoing protection updates, and connections to Microsoft’s online Office Live Workspace.

The service entered private beta on Monday, but availability and pricing info will not be available until later in the year.

Included are Microsoft Office Home and Student, which has Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote, Microsoft’s subscription-based digital notebook service; Windows LiveOneCare, an antivirus and firewall service; and the free Live Mail, Messenger and Photo Gallery applications.

Up-to-Date Software

A key appeal of the new offering is that subscribers will be able to download the latest versions of the applications for no additional charge. “When the next release of Microsoft Office comes out, Albany customers with an active subscription will automatically get an upgrade to that version — at no additional cost,

as part of their subscription,” said Bryson Gordon, Albany group product manager for Microsoft.

“They’re responding to what they perceive to be the market demand for easy access to the latest version of the software, but it’s an open question as to how big that demand is,” said Greg Sterling, principal analyst with Sterling Market Research. “How many society go out and buy the latest version of Office? You usually only do it when you’re forced to” when buying a new computer or when a old version is no longer compatible with most other users’ software.

While Microsoft Office is under growing pressure from Google’s online productivity suite, Albany is much more about online delivery of updates to Microsoft’s desktop software than about the online collaboration features that are at the heart of Google’s suite.

A Hybrid Approach

“Albany is not the next version of Microsoft Office; it’s just…

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