The free 'Team Edition' software, scheduled to debut Thursday, represents Google's latest attempt to attract more users to free applications, which poses a potential threat to rival Microsoft's highly profitable Office programs.
The launch marks the second time Google has upgraded a business program this week – a week when Microsoft awaits a response to its bid to buy Yahoo Inc. in an attempt to undermine Google's dominance of Internet search and advertising.
Microsoft's unsolicited bid, initially valued at $44.6 billion, is backed largely by money the company has made selling software.
Google has been giving consumers, students and businesses free access to competing software hosted over the web in a concept known as 'cloud computing'.
More than 500,000 businesses have signed up to use Google's applications, claims the company. However, the fees so far account for only a sliver of Google's $16.6 billion in annual revenue.
Google last year collected $181 million for software sales and other services besides online advertising.