Microsoft has launched the long-rumored beta of a subscription service to an all-in-one software suite, which combines Microsoft Office Home and Student 2007, Office Live Workspace, Windows Live OneCare, Windows Live Mail, Windows Live Messenger, and Windows Live Photo Gallery. Codenamed Albany, the new offering is a direct take on Google Docs.

"We’ve pulled together the productivity tools people need to organize their lives, security to help keep their personal information safe and online services that make it easy for them to keep in touch with friends and family, and folded them all into a single service that also ensures the user’s PC is running the latest security and productivity software," said Albany Group Product Manager Bryson Gordon.

One Albany license will be good for three PCs, which makes it very useful to people who own more than one PC or families. It's unclear how much it will cost, but it will always include the latest versions of the bundled applications. Microsoft made it clear that the company is not straying from their traditional software sales model, and permanent licenses will always be available to Office products.

While Microsoft's stuff will come at a price, which one can expect will not be cheap, Google's Docs online suite is ad-supported and free. It will remain to be seen whether Microsoft will manage to lure in customers who already use Google's offering, as the search engine leader has a significant head start.

"We’ll be providing more information later in the year on “Albany’s” availability, pricing and how people can get their hands on it," Gordon said.