Microsoft has launched the long-rumored 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. Formerly codenamed Albany, the new offering is a direct take on Google Docs and is now called... Equipt (looks like MS is running out of names).

Equipt will initially be available only in the U.S. starting July 15, in nearly 700 Circuit City stores. Anytime a new version of Office or Windows Live OneCare is released, Microsoft Equipt customers will get the version upgrades as part of their subscriptions, Microsoft said in its statement.

One Equipt 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 will be around $70 per year, Google's Docs online suite is ad-supported and free. The price is actually good, as Windows Live OneCare alone is priced at $49.95 per year. Buying the programs which make up Equipt  the traditional way would cost about $200. 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.