What a year for Microsoft. Little by little, the company is reclaiming the territory lost to competitors, namely Google. From its search engine to its social efforts, mobile to the PC, Microsoft is revamping several aspects of its company in order to make a bigger appeal to consumers. Microsoft Office 2010 has amassed great reviews since first releasing details the past few months, with emphasis on its size and legacy.

Going for Google’s jugular is a hefty task–it’s taken years of study and plenty of market monitoring. Now, Microsoft Office 2010 relies on cloud computing to give you the access you need for your files. The embracing of virtual storage and multiple access points is a long-awaited and fully-functional feature from Microsoft, with a few surprisess such as the free Starter, which is now laced with ads. NECN quotes Ballmer as saying,

“”With over a billion users of Microsoft Office on the planet, Office 2010 is easier to use, we’ve really embraced the Web, we’ve embraced the whole social networking phenomenon, and we’ve made everything easier,”

“With the new Office, you are able to connect up to our SkyDrive facility up in the cloud and you can share documents with friends, colleagues, work on a project together,” said Ballmer.

While Microsoft is ultimately looking to maintain its dominance, it’s also following a path similar to Google’s. I don’t mean just the virtual access stuff. The centralization of various tasks and action items can be better achieved as the necessity for multiple access and interaction points grows in demand. No matter where you are or what you need to do, wouldn’t it be nice to have access to your files, and share them accordingly?

Windows Live acts as this centralization factor for Microsoft. Moving forward, the company is taking several strides across different fronts in order to accomplish its goals. Even this week, Microsoft has unveiled several enterprise, mobile and gaming products that leverage the Windows Live account, which branches its services out from there. It’s been a few years now, that Microsoft has been building a productive identity portal for consumers through Windows Live, and with the development of cloud computing, Microsoft is better able to reel in its nets.