Microsoft took tentative steps to embrace the cloud in 2009, most notably with its development of Azure, Redmond's cloud-based system for creating applications and services. In a departure from its traditionally desktop-bound model for many of its applications, Microsoft also signaled that it would incorporate browser-based functionality into its Office 2010 offerings, slated for general release sometime next year. The release of Google's Chrome OS in 2010, although initially meant for netbooks, could change the general OS ecosystem in ways that could affect Microsoft's development of Windows 8.
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