Microsoft Introduces 'Napa' Toolset For Cloud App Model

Nerval's Lobster writes "In keeping with Microsoft's 'all-in' strategy with regard to the cloud, Office 2013 incorporates a good deal of cloud functionality: SkyDrive is now the default storage selection for documents, for example, and users' work is synced between devices connected to the Web. In conjunction with that, Microsoft is now offering a 'Cloud App Model' that incorporates Web standards, meant for developers interested in building apps that bring functionality into Office and SharePoint. The toolset for building within this 'Cloud App Model' is codenamed 'Napa.' Among the potential uses: developers can build mail apps for Office, which add content and functionality to Outlook items based on activation rules, content apps for Excel, which add content and functionality to Excel documents, and task pane apps for Office, which add functionality to Excel and Word documents in a task pane adjacent to the document."