First there was Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) Docs, then came Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) Office 365, and now Oracle (NASDAQ: ORCL) Cloud Office has joined the web-based productivity software marketplace.

Oracle's new productivity offering lets users create presentations and spreadsheets and collaborate on documents without using desktop software. The company said that it works on smartphones and is compatible with documents in the on-site Open Office (which Oracle just launched a new version of) and Microsoft Office formats.

Cloud Office is based on Oracle's open source office suite, OpenOffice.org. In the view of Pascal-Emmanuel Gobry at BusinessInsider, this can mean one of two things: Either it "is just meant to distract Microsoft a little bit by offering a free/cheap alternative to its Office cash cow," he writes. Or Oracle "actually plans to go after one of Microsoft's core businesses in a big way."

Oracle did not announce pricing for Cloud Office, and that variable could be a major factor in its success or failure vis-à-vis Google's Apps for Business, notes Chris Kanaracus of IDG News Service. Oracle's latest Open Office iteration, version 3.3, comes with plug-ins for the company's business intelligence and ERP software as well as Microsoft SharePoint. The company it touting this offering as providing businesses with greater openness and flexibility than its rivals' offerings.

For more:
- see Pascal-Emmanuel Gobry's post at BusinessInsider
- see Chris Kanaracus' article at IDG News Service

Related Articles:
Microsoft launches Office 365 in the cloud
Foundation aims to unshackle OpenOffice.org
Office 2010 tools take cue from Google Apps
Microsoft thumbs nose at Google with beta of 'Office 365'