<p>Microsoft is extending its Office 365 Small Business free trial from 30 to 90 days, hoping to attract some disenfranchised small-business Google Apps customers who are unhappy about Google's recent decision to start charging for its hosted apps service.</p><p>Google announced on December 7 that new users will have to pay $50 per user per year for Google Apps starting in January 2013. Existing Google Apps for Business users who have the free version won't be affected by the price increase.</p><p>That $50 fee is still cheaper than Microsoft's comparable offering for small-business users -- Office 365 Small Business (P1), which costs $6 per user per month, or $72 per year. Microsoft still hasn't unveiled the final pricing for its updated Office 365 line-up or made its new packages available to users; both of those things are expected to happen simultaneously with the Office 2013 launch, which is sounding like it could happen at the very end of January 2013.</p><p>But as one Microsoft partner told me recently, the mental hurdle between free and paid is a lot higher than the hurdle between $50 and $72.</p><p><a href="http://www.zdnet.com/microsoft-offers-office-365-carrot-to-disenfranchised-google-apps-small-business-users-7000008976/">Keep reading...</a></p><p>Read also:</p><p><a href="http://www.neowin.net/news/small-businesses-can-now-get-90-day-free-trial-of-office-365">Small businesses can now get 90 da...</a> (Neowin)</p><p><a href="http://www.winbeta.org/news/90-day-free-trial-now-available-small-businesses">90 day free trial now available for Small businesses</a> (WinBeta)</p><p>Explore: <a href="http://news.google.com/news/more?ncl=dftF2H1nc7lS_xMjnm-7bxX_qpy6M&ned=us">4 additional articles.</a></p>