For starters, Office 2013 saves your work to SkyDrive cloud storage by default. The new desktop suite also ties in deeply with the browser-based Office Web Apps. These are notable steps in a cloud-based direction, but given the overwhelming adoption of Google Drive in the workplace—it's the platform of choice at PCWorld—it's a bit curious that Microsoft updated its desktop suite at all.
Indeed, isn't shuttling Word documents over file servers and email a bit passé?
The bottom line is that Microsoft knows its customers still need (or at least want) traditional, "hit-a-button-and-install-this-to-my-programs-folder" software. But who, exactly, are the holdouts who refuse to make the switch to Google Drive, Office 365, or even Microsoft's Office Web Apps? Who's still using a local copy of Word, Excel, and PowerPoint exclusively, and why?
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