I think it is a sign of just how much of an impact open source software and free web applications are having on the tech world: Microsoft is thinking of turning it’s Works Suite into a free web application.
A few years ago, this wouldn’t have been considered. A subscription service, yes. Free, no.
Now there exists a variety of free web apps, including Google Spreadsheets, ThinkFree Office, Writely (acquired by Google last spring), NumSum, and many others, allowing people to bypass installing office suites on their computers, at least for basic word processing and spreadsheet activities. Microsoft has to worry about becoming irrelevant in the one area it still clearly dominates.
from Monkey Bites.
