Microsoft is giving a select group of technology-savvy testers an early peek at Office 2010, but it is keeping free, new web-based versions of programmes such as Word and Excel under wraps a little while longer.

Microsoft is giving a select group of technology-savvy testers an early peek at Office 2010, but it is keeping free, new web-based versions of programmes such as Word and Excel under wraps a little while longer.

Yesterday's launch of this "technical preview" indicates Office 2010 is on track for release early next year.

Microsoft is updating the desktop software package to add more ways for people to work simultaneously on docu- ments, organise their e-mail and edit photos. For the first time, Microsoft is adding free companion versions that run in a web browser.

Microsoft Office is the most popular software package worldwide for making presentations and spreadsheets, and its dominance is in no immediate danger. But the company is trying to defend its turf against a long-developing trend in which software is moving from the desktop to the web. Google has been pushing its own free, web-based programmes for more than two years.

In 2007, Microsoft launched Office Live Workspace, which let people view and comment on files, but it lacked tools for creating and editing them.

The Office 2010 web programmes will be Microsoft's first real attempt at an online office package. The browser- based programmes are on a different development cycle from the desktop programmes, and Microsoft says the web versions' preview will be ready in August.

The web version of Office 2010 will be free to consumers, in a version supported by advertising. Firms with licensing agreements will be able to install the online programmes for no extra charge.