Microsoft heads to 'Albany'
No, it's not getting into New York state politics. Rather the company has launched testing for a new consumer product, which may or may not be its ad-funded version of Works.
Microsoft confirmed Friday that it has started testing for a product code-named "Albany" but would not offer further details on the product, which may or may not be its ad-funded version of Works.
ZDNet's Mary Jo Foley posted a report earlier Friday saying that Albany is a consumer product in the Office family. She didn't get anything concrete out of Redmond either, but has some informed speculation of what it might be.
Microsoft said last year that it plans to test an ad-funded version of Works, following several years of exploring the idea. However, it is unclear whether Albany is in fact that product.
The software maker already has its Office Live Workspaces product which lets people store and share office documents online, but unlike Google Docs and Spreadsheets, does not allow documents to be edited online.