However, gaps in support for non-Windows mobile platforms, questions about pricing and a continued reliance on locally installed software weaken the suite's potential for success and could open the door for competitors.

That's the initial assessment from various industry analysts who are following the release of the new Office version's public beta this week.

"There's a lot of value there," said Sarah Rotman Epps, a Forrester Research analyst. "It's the best version of Office ever."

So far, the consensus among many analysts and reviewers seems to be that Microsoft has done an outstanding job simplifying and improving the suite's user interface, which has been criticized in the past as cluttered and confusing, and optimizing it for tablets that use hand gestures and styluses for input.

Also getting high marks are new application features such as a "read mode" in Word that improves the reading experience, and a PDF "reflow" capability for opening and editing PDF files.