The B to B market is where Microsoft is still strong despite attempts by Google to eat into their applications share. New Microsoft research reveals that business customers are adopting Microsoft Office 2010 five times faster than previous versions of the software.

The B to B market is where Microsoft is still strong despite attempts by Google to eat into their applications share. New Microsoft research reveals that business customers are adopting Microsoft Office 2010 five times faster than previous versions of the software.

The data released as part of the company’s one-year anniversary celebration of Office 2010, reportedly the fastest-selling version to date. The newest version was launched a year ago, packed with social networking and online collaboration tools, including Office Web Apps, the web-based versions of the Office programs.

In a blog post today, Microsoft Office vice president Takeshi Numoto said that nearly 50 million people worldwide have adopted Office Web Apps, possibly surpassing competitor Google Docs in number of users.

When Office 2010 launched last year, Google suggested that users skip the update and instead use Google Apps (a paid feature) to move into the world of online collaboration.

The total number of Google Docs and Google Apps users is 25 million, half of Microsoft’s estimated active users.

Sales in Microsoft’s Business Division have beat analysts’ expectations recently, with revenues of $5.25 billion in the third quarter of 2011, a 21 percent increase over the same quarter in 2010. A bulk of that revenue comes from sales of the Office software.