Microsoft's Office Live services are, for the most part, targeted at the smallest of enterprises. But Microsoft has unveiled the beta of Workspaces, a collaboration tool within Office Live, that may become the focus of its battle to beat Google at the SaaS (software as a service) game. Office Live Workspaces will allow users to keep more than 1,000 Microsoft Office files in one place and invite others to access, Microsoft’s Office Live services are, for the most part, targeted at the smallest of enterprises. But Microsoft has unveiled the beta of Workspaces, a collaboration tool within Office Live, that may become the focus of its battle to beat Google at the SaaS (software as a service) game.Office Live Workspaces will allow users to keep more than 1,000 Microsoft Office files in one place and invite others to access, tracking, and merge them. And it connects directly into the desktop Office experience — like SharePoint for the masses.Or at least it could be. Of course, the masses might not be ready for SharePoint-style file sharing. With the addition of Workspaces, Office Live starts to look a bit more like Google Apps. Both provide a way to build a business Web presence, with e-mail and collaboration. The main difference between the two — aside from the current absence of the capabilities of Google Docs, which will be coming with Workspaces — is the integration of Office Live into Windows and Office itself. Office Live already has a downloadable Outlook Connector for integrating e-mail and calendaring into the desktop experience. Office Live Workspaces will extend that, allowing users to save documents from directly within Windows. SharedView, an extension to Office available separately, will allow users to share screens within Office documents remotely and work together. That’s a significantly different approach from Google Docs, which allows for the creation of documents within the Web tool and joint editing via browsers. It’s also to be expected, since Microsoft’s desktop is its position of strength.For users who feel safe within the confines of the desktop, all this is a nice, comfortable baby step toward SaaS. And it’s perhaps a sign of how Microsoft plans to use Office as the camel’s nose under the enterprise tent for other such services targeted higher. It’s not earth-shattering, and it won’t exactly win the vote of many early adopters such as the ones who’ve embraced Google Apps. But that’s exactly the way Microsoft probably wants it. Software DevelopmentSmall and Medium Business