Microsoft Corp. is updating its online corporate software offerings to include a full Internet-based version of Office 2010 for the first time, in an effort to stave off competition from Google Inc. for business accounts, Bloomberg reported.

The Office 365 suite of programs will be introduced today at an event in New York with Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer. The software will cost small businesses $6 per user each month for a package of programs that includes Office Web Apps and Exchange email software, Microsoft said. For an additional $12 a month, companies can add a full version of Office, including the Word and Excel programs.

Microsoft, based in Redmond, Wash., is trying to keep Google’s office-productivity software, called Apps for Business, from making further inroads with corporate and government clients, Bloomberg said. The two companies are fighting for customers who want more applications hosted in the “cloud” – a network rather than a hard drive. The full online version of Office follows last year’s release of the more basic Office Web Apps.

This update represents the first time Microsoft will sell a full version of Office through an Internet-based cloud service, and also marks the first time companies can license the programs on a per-user, per-month basis, said Wes Miller, an analyst at Directions on Microsoft in Kirkland, Wash.

For larger businesses, prices start at $2 for basic email, and companies can get a full copy of Office and other programs like social networking and videoconferencing for $24 a month. The software services are an update to an earlier product called Business Productivity Online Suite, or BPOS, Bloomberg said.