Microsoft will unveil Office 2010 on Monday at the company's worldwide partner conference in New Orleans. Google allegedly rushed out its Chrome OS announcement to spoil the fun for Microsoft.

What's most interesting to me is the way the two companies are positioning their competing browser-based futures. I've edited down three long articles:

  • Google's blog post: "Speed, simplicity and security are the key aspects of Google Chrome OS."
  • The head of Microsoft's Business Division's CNET interview: "The base conversation is about productivity."
  • BusinessWeek's cover story on Microsoft: "We're trying to redefine our notion of productivity."
Watch how the words below are thrown around in the coming weeks. Google's marketing and PR campaigns will ding Microsoft's ubiquitous software as slow, overly complicated, and prone to hackers. Microsoft, in return, will remind us that when we think of work, we think of Windows.

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