Don’t look now, but Microsoft is marketing intelligently.

Cnet reports that Microsoft will be distributing without cost — that’s right, for free! — two versions of its new Microsoft Office 2010 suite.

The online application, called Office Web Apps will work inside your Internet browser. It’ll let you store, edit, and share Office documents. Google, er, guess, who Microsoft is competing with on the Web apps front.

Further, Microsoft is launching Office Starter, a basic, stripped down version that will come pre-installed on many new computers.

Here’s what business division president Stephen Elop had to say this week: “People will be exposed to the Office 2010 experience from the minute they turn on that PC”

This is smart, progressive, marketing that acknowledges and accepts the market forces that Microsoft faces today.

Don’t take this for granted, because it didn’t used to be this way. Under normal Microsoft operating procedures, the company would simply release four or five boxed versions, and sell them all at various price points.

The Cnet article calls this experiment with giving away functionality a “big gamble.”

I don’t think it’s any kind of gamble at all. I don’t think Microsoft had a choice. Goggle has been so outmarketing and outmaneuvering Microsoft that it has shifted the computing playing field from hard drives to the Internet. This is Microsoft acknowledging that they’re on the field too.

It’s far from a walk-off home run, but beating out an infield single can start a heck of a comeback.