Google broadsides Microsoft with its office-Apps
Posted 22 February 2007, by Aaron
Today Google relaunched its Google Apps product, with the addition of Docs & Spreadsheets to is Microsoft-challenging web-based productivity suite.
I’ve used Google Apps since it first surfaced in early 2006 with the catchy and self explanatory title, Gmail for Your Domain. Google quickly added extra features such as Google Calendar and Google Talk, and the name evolved to Google Apps for your Domain.
The addition of Docs & Spreadsheets to the suite of services has been widely requested by users, and to be honest was a fairly obvious next step for Google. What’s more, they now offer a Premium edition targeted at businesses for $50 per user per year. The Standard edition is still free to use, but obviously with a few less features than Premium.
Whether fifty fat ones equates to good value or not is open to debate. What is certain though is that this move brings Microsoft firmly within Google’s sights. On average, businesses pay Microsoft about $225 per user per year for Office and Exchange licenses. For a large firm of 1,000, the $175,000 saving might just prove tempting.
Personally I don’t think there will be a huge tide of firms moving their user base over to Google just yet. Whilst Gmail, Calendar and Chat have a lot going for them, currently Docs & Spreadsheets are a long way off Microsoft Office feature-wise.
However, as the Internet evolves, the number of applications being delivered ‘virtually’ through a browser window is growing. Is the future of computing purely web-driven? Will all software applications be delivered over the Internet eventually? Will the future computer be nothing more than an access point to the Internet?
If the answer to any of the above is yes (which it will be for a lot of people), then Google are leading the way. For now Microsoft Office continues to reign supreme, but for the traditional off-the-shelf model of software, its days are numbered. But Google Apps still has a long way to go, which gives Microsoft plenty of time to catchup.
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Matt Ellsworth
20 March 2007, 3:01 am