Much Ado About Nothing: Google's Docs Update

Google docs was never that interesting, Office XP has more tools that Google. The new web apps from Office 2010 look promising because of the ability to use them any platform, looking forward to that.

LOL we just had a meeting here about moving to google docs instead of paying for word. I told my coworkers it was not a good idea, but they voted me out. I should be hearing from them complaining they can't use it soon. I keep warning people that these services should not be relied on as they are not ready.

So far off ... on what? My contention isn't so much that Google Docs doesn't offer much competition to Office. It's that this update is minor and triggered a weird round of undeserving press. That said, I was trying to be funny. So I guess I failed twice.

Well, the update might be minor and the press coverage might be overblown, but it was a boon to Google nonetheless. I know it's hard to believe because the kind of people who come to this site are inundated with tech news, but a lot of people don't even know that Google Docs exists. Several people I know saw yesterday's coverage and tried Google Docs for the first time. Some of them are going to see if they can integrate it into their work. If that result was multiplied around the country (world?), then Google just gained a bunch of new users and Microsoft just lost a bunch potential clients.

The potential is what's being missed. Everyone is all in a tizzy about how Apple and Google are getting ready to duke it out. The funny thing is people don’t see the real war heating up here: MS vs Google. Sorry but who is Google stealing markets share from in the Mobile OS race? A: Microsoft; each time Google goes up, WinMo goes down. The WinMo fans can fool themselves all they want, but for the foreseeable future it impacts MS the most. WinMo7 won’t be out until the end of the year at the earliest and that’s assuming they can meet that date. Palm is now going belly up and the MobileOS race might be over before MS even leaves the starting block. Now why does this matter on this discussion? Quite simple Google and MS are becoming ever more at odds with each other; their aims, their goals etc. Google is looking to leverage their "one trick pony" as it gets remarked around here. Whether or not this is feature capable enough is irrelevant. Whether or not it can do everything of the latest release of Office is irrelevant. Most people use barely a fraction of Office as it is. If MS taught us anything in the 90’s being better does not matter: simply being good enough however, does. MS is under siege in a lot of areas and Google is looking to start choking off one of the three cash cows of MS. Office is a huge revenue stream, but there is nothing in it that is absolutely critical that I can’t get free or with near free. Hell AbiWord, NeoOffice, Openoffice etc are all apps that met the needs for most anyone. Enter in Google with online apps and you have another piece to the puzzle. In short its death by a thousand cuts, not one massive one. Office and especially Windows licenses have stayed remarkably stable (high) as the cost of the PC has tumbled. And that’s the real argument here. Some feel that MS is never going away. History lessons of business tell us that is far from so. In fact most companies fail statistically speaking. Even big ones become shadows of their former selves. No company is immune to it. So Google by the look of it is only one growing threat that is going to give MS problems for years to come. And where does that leave MS? Servers? Linux on the server makes perfect sense for almost any web hosting need as does Oracle in business. Desktop/laptop OS? Sure, so many people are tied to it now, but this has peaked. The next big wave is Mobile and no one is interested in handing MS ANYTHING this time around. I’m not claiming I have the answers either, I will point out that those who feel MS isn’t going to be feeling some pain… sure they won’t. Also I get Paul’s bemusement that the press is overreacting. And Paul: I saw the post about the new rules on the blog. But by the same token look at your last post pthurrott said: That said, I was trying to be funny. So I guess I failed twice.” Its going to take a LONG TIME before many people get that you are trying to be more engaged in the blog, let alone funny. But I will point out the actions of the fan boys (either side) is a direct reaction to you lighting the fire and then wondering why people were showing up with gasoline. That said I’ll be watching with interest as this “new/old” blog unfolds.

Another one: Google's Microsoft Office Killer Just Got A Huge Upgrade Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2010/04/13/businessinsi... Unbelievable. :)

First, the link with the text "promises" leads to audible. Second, there is a disconnect here. Paul says: "a minor update" The SFGate says "The word processor is a completely new tool." I think that if these were apps that were traditionally delivered, that is, downloaded and installed on a PC -- then yes -- this would be minor. But its a cloud *based* app thats probably among the most advanced cloud *based* apps out there (kinda like Gmail). That would make it a big deal, no? Among just word processors, perhaps not. But among cloud apps, yes. Oh yes.

I fixed the "promises" link above. Sorry about that. :)

So here is the lesson. Ignore the mainstream media and go with the tech media. Here is what Om's network says: "Part of what was holding Docs back from going feature-for-feature with Office was the fact that different browsers displayed the layouts of Docs differently. " With the new system: "“every person sees exactly what the other person sees,” said Sabharwal. So now Docs has actual character-by-character, real-time editing by multiple users; in-document presence and IM; and advanced formatting such as floating images, rulers and data stops" http://gigaom.com/2010/04/12/google-rewrites-docs-to-make-them-quicker-a...

Paul, I think you're being a little disingenuous here. The biggest problem with Office (since the days of your screenshot, and still somehow a problem today) is that it adheres to a clunky and unnecessary file metaphor that requires exporting documents in certain formats that hopefully other people can use (not .docx for example, if you don't know your third-party's ' current version) and then manually attaching them to an e-mail or ftp or...it's like we've reproduced all the awful things about snail mail with the Internet. Wrong versions of files, no collaborative editing...so what if mail merge is incredibly awesome for the massive corporation market? Everyone I know who works for a small business, non-profit or school has switched to google docs, not because anyone sold them on it, but because it is absolutely good enough for 90% of the actual doc creation work and *way* better for sharing, collaborating and distributing documents within a small office or team. Things that Office couldn't do in the late nineties, and still can't today. Also, unlike your example with Word 2007, Google Docs is *completely free,* and as they upgrade it with this new framework, getting closer and closer to Office in terms of functionality every day, those upgrades will also be seamless and completely free. As a small business owner, what can Office do for me today that I can't get out of Google Docs for free with unlimited free upgrades? For me, the answer is "not nearly enough."

In all fairness, the update looks good. Actually, i'm kind of excited about the margin editor(it's about time). But as Paul said, it's nothing groundbreaking. Of course, any update to Google Docs is welcomed, except for removing the offline feature, even if temporary. I moved to Google Docs because I could access it anywhere, even without a connection. But it looks as if I might need to go back to Word for a little bit.

Don't forget Grannyville if you get Office Through the Ultimate Steal, you can get a cheap version of a surprising full suite, that would probably cost over $300, right now it is 2007 but with the guarantee you can upgrade to 2010 for free. As to Google all joking aside this is important I guess, because you are going to have to have a low functioning product before it gets better, I mean at one point the Typewriter was probably better than the early word processors This is probably the same type of thing but I really dislike the idea of the cloud, I like to keep everything local. Though a little mix would be okay if I needed a file I had to access from another computer okay, but I don't want my entire computer to basically to be an outlet to the web. Anyways, the last time a company tried something like this, they were sued as a monopoly, the bundling of IE and Windows Explorer. Thank about it, you typed in a web address you were there, and this is where a cloud os would go I wouldn't be surprised if Chrome OS was like this, where you just typed a web address in a explorer window, we shall see how it works out this time.

I think Google docs is great...As a Graphic designer I dont have to install MS office and have one more piece of software on my computer that I never use. So for me I like it..

@redunion1940 Thank you for the reminder :)

Paul I would agree that this update is not a big deal but Google docs is appealing to people who want to share and edit files in the cloud and this will only increase over time. For a lot of people Google docs gives them all the functionality that they need. By the way the screenshot is hilarious.

" By the way the screenshot is hilarious. " This.

I really dislike Google Docs. Sorry, but nothing can replace MS Office for me, on Win or Mac

@decals42 - Like I said...right now, in the US, there are so many regulations for certain industries, like financial and healthcare, that Google or other cloud based systems cannot keep up. Couple that with Google's data mining strategy, and there are problems. Sure, they back it up...but privacy concerns are real. The larger companies will not trust Google or any other provider of this type for a long time. Heck, some industries are just getting the ok from regulators to use the services of Iron mountain - and only under major scrutiny. --tayme

Agrees with DRWAM. Although I curse Word almost on a daily basis for not adhering to Spaces, for losing track of my dictionary, and for being slower than CS4 on a quadcore Mac, my current work does not allow me to use anything else. Excel and Powerpoint, however, is a different matter. I cannot remember when I last needed them. Keynote is vastly superior to Powerpoint in every aspect. Oh, and never in my life did I look at Googledocs.