Microsoft has launched the beta version of its answer to Google's online office suite in the form of Office 365. The suite comprises of Microsoft Office, SharePoint Online, Exchange Online and Lync Online and is aimed at small to large business enterprises that want the remove or reduce the burden of installation, administration and maintenance of their office infrastructure.

The beta version (of which there are limited places) is currently available in 13 countries including the US, Canada, the UK, France, Japan, Mexico and Germany and will go on sale next year. There are two versions of Office 365 available:

Office 365 Beta for small businesses: Designed specifically for smaller businesses and professionals who are looking for cloud-based productivity tools without IT hassles.

Office 365 Beta for enterprises: For organizations that are looking to move their productivity tools to the cloud but maintain control of their IT services.

Both versions comprise of the same 4 components:

Office Professional Plus: The familiar Office desktop apps plus a new Office Web Apps connected to the cloud and with a pay-as-you-go, per-user licensing system.

Exchange Online: Microsoft Exchange email, calendar, and contacts with built-in virus and spam checker. This allows users to access their mail anywhere including on mobile devices.

SharePoint Online: Sharing and collaboration tool which allows users to share and sync documents without the need to set up their own datacenter with SharePoint installed.

Lync Online: Communication suite allowing instant messaging (IM), video conferencing and screen sharing.

Although Microsoft dominate the desktop market with Microsoft Office, they've been left behind by Google Docs for Business in the online or cloud computing department. For small businesses, Office 365 will be available for $6 per user per month. For larger organizations, the service will cost between $2-$20 per user per month which includes online support.

Whether Office 365 is a success or not will largely depend on how much businesses and organizations trust Microsoft with the confidentiality of their information and how satisfied they are with the service and maintenance provided. For example, it's easy to foresee situations with the Office 365 small business version where businesses will feel helpless to resolve IT issues because they've relinquished control of all maintenance of their office system to Microsoft.

Many organizations live with Windows and Office as a necessary evil. Do they really want to remove large parts of their IT maintenance departments by trusting Microsoft to maintain their Office infrastructures competently?