Google Office

As the Future Lawyer notes here Google has begun its assault on the Microsoft Office monopoly, although they are down playing the obvious head on competition. I don't think anyone is really fooled. Google's strategy is to erode Microsoft's MS Office monopoly power a little at a time. Their offering will quickly mature into a robust offering for small to medium size companies and startups. It will leverage the momentum building around Web 2.0 and might grow even faster if it makes it easy for developers to build add-ons and mashups. The "everything on the cloud" computing strategy is nascent but inevitable. That said, Microsoft sees the writing on the wall and will respond with a vengeance. Let the game begin!

Comments

[Steven Leyva]

How will google match up as far as the ability to embed other apps or software into the office programs. Like putting a flash video in a word doc, or power point.

[Carlos Leyva]

Steven,

Google is not likely to have the same feature rich integration facilities that MS Office has for awhile, but eventually the net-based equivalents will probably meet 90% of the needs. Since Gooogle's version will be either free or very inexpensive (i.e. the paid version)it will be "compelling" to individuals and small businesses looking to save on MS Office license fees. Most users do not use any (or hardly any) of the MS Office advanced features so they are not likely to miss them.