Google announces alpha-numeric combination
Google has taken deeper plunge into the Web-based productivity-applications market by integrating its online word-processing and spreadsheet programs. The application suite is called Google Docs & Spreadsheets.
The free program lets people create, manage and share documents and spreadsheets on the Web. It also enables people to collaborate online in real time, use a variety of file formats for importing and exporting, and publish documents and spreadsheets on a Web page or blog.
Jonathan Rochelle, Google Docs & Spreadsheets product manager claimed that Google was not targeting the desktop suite dominated by Microsoft and said, “It made sense to combine these products and people were asking for that…It doesn't change our strategy. This is complementary to desktop products...and lacks certain advanced features" of desktop products.
Google had acquired the online word-processing application Writely in March and launched Google Spreadsheets in June. Come October and Google has announced the marriage of the two. The Writely brand thus goes away, but the technology behind it will continue to drive Google Docs & Spreadsheets. The move continues Google's attempt to assemble a suite of software applications that are tethered to an Internet connection instead of a single computer's hard drive.
An official spokeswoman claimed that the merger reflected Google's effort to develop features rather than develop more products." The statement has reference to Google’s co-founder Sergey Brin "Features, not products," initiative which was pushed to simplify a confusing collection of services.
What may surprise Google is that it has some serious competitors in the online office productivity space. Two obvious examples are Zoho and Thinkfree. Both of these are Web 2.0 products and offer the full suite of basic office productivity tools, including a word processor, spreadsheet and presentation application.
Experience shows that all the online office productivity tools do the trick if the job on hand is simple, but none of them appears to be adept at handling the complex business applications. However, these online office tools do outshine their desktop equivalents.
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"Experience shows that all
"Experience shows that all the online office productivity tools do the trick if the job on hand is simple, but none of them appears to be adept at handling the complex business applications."
Please, 90% of users do not want all the kludgy resource hungry features included with Microsoft Office, not to mention the hefty price tag. You think $400 is bad, imagine what a company with 4000 users is paying? If google can figure out what 90% of the business community users need and simulate it with Docs and Spreadsheets, I think Microsoft, at least Office, will be headed for the trash heap.
What I really tend to wonder is what happened to the innovated Bill Gates of the 80's and 90's? Or is it true that he stole all of his ideas from everyone else? You'd think if he was as smart as someone who could make a multi billion dollar business that he would have embraced Google's strategy years ago. I mean who woulda though, ` internet and software using the same business strategy as Television used 50 years ago.