by Playfuls Staff |
18th April 2007
Google has unveiled plans to add a new application to its Google Docs & Spreadsheets: Google Presentation. The new application will be based on the technology developed by Tonic System, a company Google just acquired.[more]
"They have some great technology for presentation creation and document conversion, and it will be a great addition as we add presentation sharing and collaboration capabilities to Google Docs & Spreadsheets," said Sam Schillace, Engineering Director on a company blog.
"We believe we can bring presentations to a new level of user satisfaction," said Google CEO Eric Schmidt said quoted by AP. "We don't think it competes with Microsoft, because it doesn't have all the functionality of Office. It's a different way of sharing information, more casual, and a better fit to how people use the Web."
Schmidt was speaking at the Web 2.0 conference in San Francisco and was using a beta version of Google Presentation to display his slides.
"We've already freed those of you working in teams from the burdens of version control and email attachment overload when going back and forth on word processing and spreadsheets. It just made sense to add presentations to the mix; after all, when you create slides, you're almost always going to share them," Schillace wrote.
"Now students, writers, teachers, organizers, and, well, just about everyone who uses a computer can look forward to having real-time, web-based collaboration across even more common business document formats."
He also rejected claims that his company's biggest acquisition, the planned purchase of online display advertising company DoubleClick, could raise antitrust concerns. He pointed out it's quite ironic to be criticized in that matter by companies such as Microsoft, a constant target of antitrust accusations and enforcement action in the recent past.
Schmidt took a moderate position and acknowledged his company would have increased power by being able to combine data collected by DoubleClick with its own data about search engine usage, but said he's open to such concessions as keeping the DoubleClick and Google data separate if that proved necessary to ease concerns.
As for the competition between Google's office suite and Microsoft Office, he also said "This is really a different way of sharing information – we think it's a better fit to how people use the web," he said, though he added: "I'm sure Microsoft will have a response."
I already pointed out upon the unveiling of Google Apps Premier Edition that there are significant differences in Google's and Microsoft's approaches. I said then that Google's office suite is really a different way of getting things done.
Google Apps relies on an entirely different concept from Microsoft Office. In Google Apps, the PC is considered an extension of the Internet, merely an access point towards it. That is not the case with Microsoft Office, which was developed with the PC as the center, having the Internet connection as an extension. In other words, comparing Microsoft’s Office with Google Apps is much like comparing apples and peaches.
Secondly, we should keep in mind that Google Apps has not reached age 1, and it would be unfair to compare it with a software suite which was in continuous development for almost 15 years.
There were three main disadvantages of Google's Apps over Microsoft Office, of which the first one was exactly the lack of presentation software (solved!). The two remaining issues are:
* The dependence on an Internet connection can also be a vulnerability, because today not anywhere on the globe you can find a reliable and stable connection. Google Apps does not run offline, which raises many problems for people who don’t have an always on Internet connection.
* The fact that all documents are stored on Google servers can make some worry about their data’s confidentiality or about the possibility of a hacker’s attack. This can be especially sensitive for companies dealing with business secrets, such as research companies, which are always worrisome about commercial espionage. However, it’s certain Google will do its best to ensure the data’s security.
Meanwhile, AP reports that Microsoft's spokeswoman Lisa Koetz said competition is good for customers, and her company is listening to the 450 million people who use Microsoft Office to ensure it is "meeting their needs."
"The success we are seeing with the 2007 release of Microsoft Office tells us we are heading in the right direction," Koetz said.
One good thing which I think eventually will come out of this competition is pointed out by Asher Moses over at The Age: "The days of Microsoft being able to charge up to $1150 for its Office software suite may be numbered."
