Google Docs Takes Slam from Microsoft
Posted on July 15th, 2009 by Admin in the Articles section
The tech light sabers clash, this time between long-time rivals Google and Microsoft over office applications. The Microsoft Office developers pledge their customers with a new Microsoft Office 2010 that will render Google Docs an impotent relic of the past.
“Humbug,” says Google.
But the take-that comment from Microsoft is a serious one. It is beyond argument that Microsoft Office dominates the word processing market. Since that is at least one market (not counting the Windows OS) where their precedence is unquestioned, they will resist any attacks like a grizzly bear defending her cubs.
Superpower Google has a way to make you life easier…short of breathing and eating for you. However, Google Docs, a make-your-life-easier attempt at word processing, isn’t exactly a thriller. It isn’t taking the world by storm as quickly as their search engine or e-mail service did. In a word, Google Docs is “underwhelming.” It has too many strikes against it: inconvenient, not enough features, a bit slow, gripe, gripe ad nauseum.
But Google Docs’s best attribute is one that Microsoft plans to leverage in Microsoft Office 2010. Therein lies the key to the whole game-changer. Although the new version of Microsoft Office won’t be available until early-to-mid 2010, it is not soon to talk about the upgrades. Most notably, Microsoft 2010 will include a “work anywhere” feature, enabling purchasers to use the Office suite anywhere they have an Internet connection.
In other words, “Google Docs: We stole your idea.” And it’s a pretty good one. In fact, it’s the lifeblood for Google’s retinue of handy apps. Cloud computing, the best thing for Google since the invention of the search engine, is the power behind the versatility in Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Voice, etc. For Microsoft to take the concept of cloud computing (which isn’t endemic to Google) and marry it to the household names of Word, Excel, and Power Point, is a very intelligent move indeed.
According to Microsoft’s publicity release, “Office 2010 and related products will deliver innovative capabilities and provide new levels of flexibility and choice that will help people.” At the top of the list is the ability to “provide access to documents from virtually anywhere and preserve the look and feel of a document regardless of device.”
Some call it “a necessary slap at Google,” and others spitefully predict that “Office Web will kill Google Docs,” but the jury is still out. Ominous as those predictions may sound, Google will still retain a firm clutch on its vast empire. Google still has what Microsoft Office can never promise: absolutely free. Yes, it’s true the Microsoft Office 2010, lightweight, online, cloud-based, Google-strangling venture may be “free,” you still have to buy the rest of the package.