Mathew's comments - Latest Comments in Does a Web Office hurt Google or MSFT?

Re: Does a Web Office hurt Google or MSFT?

Shaneen Clarke — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 22:01:25 -0000

I've been using Google Docs almost everyday and I just notice I haven't opened my MSword for months now. I find web services more handy.

Re: Does a Web Office hurt Google or MSFT?

adondai — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 22:09:52 -0000

Exactly... I could use Office Live for collaboration I guess, but the other great thing about Google Docs is the simplicity and also the fact you can invite anyone with an email address to collaborate, even if it's not a Gmail account, no sign up involved... Office Live requires signup which is a pain if you just need to do stuff fast.

Also I think the other major point so many tech bloggers seem to forget is that MS moves with the curve, not ahead... no matter how much people have been banging on about moving to the 'cloud', it's really only now that mainstream businesses and users are actually interested...

Re: Does a Web Office hurt Google or MSFT?

rtwomey — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 11:31:24 -0000

I certainly agree with you on that. I think people that promote Google Docs as an Office killer aren't quite understanding what Google Docs is all about (and what it isn't). It's excellent for collaboration, and I use it regularly with people at work. However, it's definitely NOT an Office replacement.

Microsoft realizes this, and I think that's why having an online presence to compete with Google Docs will hurt Google far more than cannibalize any Office sales.

Re: Does a Web Office hurt Google or MSFT?

adondai — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 10:27:35 -0000

I seriously don't understand how Google Docs can be seen as anything more than a simple note-taker... I'm a uni student and I use Docs for collaboration on group assignments etc and it really is handy... but anything more than that and it's a joke... I copy and paste into Word of course.

Re: Does a Web Office hurt Google or MSFT?

mathewi — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 09:49:26 -0000

That's a good point, Alistair -- their approaches are very different.

Re: Does a Web Office hurt Google or MSFT?

rtwomey — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 09:39:29 -0000

Another possibility could be that this further extends the Office dominance in business, and slows down the adoption of Google Docs. Many businesses purchase Office for the desktop as a necessary cost of doing business: they're not interested in jumping through hoops to save a few bucks (Open Office has only a fraction of Office users). Extending that idea, I don't think Google Docs could be a replacement for Office anyway, as these mainstream users just aren't interested in switching.

Therefor, I think by giving users additional options for using their existing Office installation will only further solidify Office dominance and continue to give users just enough reason not to switch. So I see it hurting Google far more than it could ever hurt MSFT.

Re: Does a Web Office hurt Google or MSFT?

alistairc — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 09:19:04 -0000

I think my favorite line was the "Azure sky of death."

It's a bit disingenuous to say MS hasn't been focused on the cloud. They run MSN and Hotmail, as well as high-level programmable platforms like Popfly. They have 400M online users. They've also been using the hosted version of Office to demo it to prospective buyers in the US for some time now.

Perhaps a more accurate statement is that they haven't exposed the development platform to true development. Until now, it's been a tightly controlled set of tools, rather than one in which you can roll your own stuff.

I find it fascinating that Microsoft, whose early focus on developers as the driving force gave them desktop dominance, has only now reached out to those developers with an on-demand platform.

Put another way: Google wants to make everyone a hacker; Microsoft wants to make everyone a sysadmin; Apple wants to make everyone a media mogul. And their cloud strategies reflect this. Only Amazon, so far, wants to make everyone a developer.

Re: Does a Web Office hurt Google or MSFT?

adondai — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 01:51:16 -0000

That;s a bit of an arrogant way to describe it, "So Microsoft seems to have finally woken up and decided to get serious about the Web — or at least semi-serious"

MS has been working on this vision for years now, its hardly as if they decided a few months ago and decided to crank out these products.