Office Live Workspace, Google Apps, IBM Symphony, Zimbra: Buckle Up!

Curiouser and curiouser.  There has been a great deal of interesting news in the "Office 2.0" world over the last few weeks, with, for example:

• IBM's recent announcement of the free, Open Source (Eclipse platform) office productivity suite called Symphony
• Google's release of a presentation application to help round out their office productivity suite
• Yahoo's acquisition of Zimbra, a leader in open-source messaging and collaboration technology
• Microsoft's announcement of Office Live Workspace, a blend of desktop software and web services to extend Office into "the cloud" and make for easier collaboration

If I didn't have a day job, I would love to write 1,000 words on all of this. Just within the Microsoft world alone, I can't wait to see how Office Live Workspace, Groove, SharePoint, FolderShare, and Microsoft SharedView all are sorted out and positioned going forward. 

For now, expect lots of rumors (MSFT + FaceBook, anyone? OK, maybe not) announcements, innovation and excitement as contenders push MSFT to continue to invest, extend, and integrate productivity tools information workers use every day.  Get ready for a bumpy ride...