Acknowledging the popularity of tablets with touch screens, Microsoft is adjusting the Office Web Apps user interface so that it's more convenient for interaction with hand gestures.

For collaboration, this new version allows users to engage in joint editing in PowerPoint, the only suite application that didn't have this capability previously. Also new is the ability to insert comments in documents and presentations without necessarily being engaged in editing the files. These comments can be replied to as well.

In performance, the new version doesn't slow down its basic operations like typing and formatting as documents get larger. Excel in particular works faster, as do graphic elements in PowerPoint like shapes and drawing tools.

Office Web Apps is comparable to Google Docs in that they are both hosted by their respective vendors and used via browsers, and neither comes close to matching the functionality in the full-featured Office suite.

Those interested in trying out the new version of Office Web Apps can log in to their SkyDrive online storage service account via this special link: http://skydrive.live.com/?officebeta=1.