Google Apps vs. Microsoft Office.

[JMH]

Google Apps or Microsoft Office? That is the question on the minds of many CIOs today.

Microsoft has long dominated the e-mail, collaboration and office tools market, and its customer list dwarfs that of Google and all other competitors. But despite the presence of well-established alternatives such as OpenOffice and IBM's Lotus Notes, some industry analysts believe Google may pose the strongest long-term threat to Microsoft's office dominance.

"Google is still a wannabe, but they're Google so this is a very strong challenger," says Laura DiDio, lead analyst with Information Technology Intelligence Corp (ITIC).

Tech Debate: Google Gmail vs. hosted Microsoft Exchange

Why should a business choose Google over Microsoft? Google is inexpensive, at $50 per user per year. Employees are often familiar with Gmail, so user training shouldn't be too burdensome. Outsourcing IT functions to Google lets businesses reduce internal IT expenditures and wasted time maintaining servers and applications. With Google, businesses get the basic productivity tools of e-mail, calendaring, and document creation and editing, as well as a Web site builder, private video sharing and other functions. (See related article, "Google Apps basics".)

Source -
Google Apps vs. Microsoft Office - Computerworld

 

[Lee]

Still not convinced. Sorry been using MS Office for to long, and have tested most of the different Office Suites and still haven't found one that can even come choose to MS Office.

 

[Bootz]

I agree, and i think google is gonna remain "a wanna be" at least in a corporate environment. I would be surprised to see any significant jump.

 

[Crunchy Doodle]

While I could see a small business trying to keep expenses down using the Google Apps as long as their requirements are basic. However, if you have to do some real publishing, even OpenOffice 3.0 falls short, in my opinion. I tried both the Google Apps and OpenOffice 3.0, and went right back to Office 2007 Professional.

Bye.

 

[Zidane24]

Still not convinced. Sorry been using MS Office for to long, and have tested most of the different Office Suites and still haven't found one that can even come choose to MS Office.

I totally agree....Interface arguments aside...Microsoft Office 2010 is the most powerful Office productivity software on the planet

There is absolutely NO WAY Google will steal people away from Office (unless people don't want to pay for Office).

 

[osholt]

My small business currently uses Google apps.

Plus points:
It's free for up to 50 users.
They'll host your email for you for free with tonnes of storage.
They have the best webmail ever (in my opinion, I've tried them all I like Gmail the best)
They offer complete mobile integration on most platforms (something that MS Exchange doesn't do particularly well)

Cons:
All of it's desktop web apps bar gmail are not up to scratch compared to MS Office or iWork.

Oli

 

[CarlTR6]

Still not convinced. Sorry been using MS Office for to long, and have tested most of the different Office Suites and still haven't found one that can even come choose to MS Office.

I agree, and i think google is gonna remain "a wanna be" at least in a corporate environment. I would be surprised to see any significant jump.

While I could see a small business trying to keep expenses down using the Google Apps as long as their requirements are basic. However, if you have to do some real publishing, even OpenOffice 3.0 falls short, in my opinion. I tried both the Google Apps and OpenOffice 3.0, and went right back to Office 2007 Professional.

Bye.

Still not convinced. Sorry been using MS Office for to long, and have tested most of the different Office Suites and still haven't found one that can even come choose to MS Office.

I totally agree....Interface arguments aside...Microsoft Office 2010 is the most powerful Office productivity software on the planet

There is absolutely NO WAY Google will steal people away from Office (unless people don't want to pay for Office).

I agree with all of the above. For the home user or small business, Open office may suffice and it is free. But for heavy duty use and total office apps integration, Google does not come close to MS Office.

 

[ahriman]

I would think a business would be very concerned about the many privacy
issues connected with Google.

 

[Firestrider]

Since I mostly read powerpoints/word docs/pdfs, and occasionally make small spreadsheets I almost exclusively use Google Docs. Practically all the docs on the web are connected straight to Google Docs Viewer via a browser extension. For some of the docs that disregard the extension they are downloaded to my local disk and I have to upload them to Google Docs (which can be a hassle).

For some features and better performance I need there's always Microsoft Office 2010 Beta 64-bit on my machine

I do like Google's future commitment:

Google's main goals for the next year, he says, include increasing the functionality and number of Apps; maintaining simplicity and intuitiveness; improving IT administration tools including auditing, discovery and reporting; building secure connectors between the enterprise firewall and the Google cloud; and expanding accessibility across devices such as netbooks, smartphones, iPhones and iPads.

That bolded text is where Microsoft wins hands-down.

 

[jimbo45]

Hi there
anything else doesn't even come close -- just ask any users of IBM's utterly appalling Lotus Notes -- should have been retired YEARS ago.

I don't think MS should be worried about other competitors in the Business Office stakes.

Cheers
jimbo

 

[Lordbob75]

I LOVE GMAIL.
I have used most of the different webmails out there, and GMail STOMPS them all. (to tiny little dust particles)

Other than that...
For home use, I would always choose GMail (just because of how I function).
For office use, again, I like Google Apps simply because of the versatility.

HOWEVER:
I HATE the rest of Google Apps. GMail is the only thing I like.

~Lordbob

 

[Tiffer]

My small business currently uses Google apps.

Plus points:
It's free for up to 50 users.
They'll host your email for you for free with tonnes of storage.
They have the best webmail ever (in my opinion, I've tried them all I like Gmail the best)
They offer complete mobile integration on most platforms (something that MS Exchange doesn't do particularly well)

Cons:
All of it's desktop web apps bar gmail are not up to scratch compared to MS Office or iWork.

Oli

Personally I would have serious concerns in dealing with any business that relied on "Cloud Computing" to store any of my personal data. I have no intention of ever using any of the cloud resources myself and would swiftly find another business using it's own servers and actual PC based software to run it's business.

To me apart from it's Search engine, which is all I use, anything Google does comes over to me of just doing things "on the cheap" and does not give a good business impression.

Just my two cents.

 

[osholt]

My small business currently uses Google apps.

Plus points:
It's free for up to 50 users.
They'll host your email for you for free with tonnes of storage.
They have the best webmail ever (in my opinion, I've tried them all I like Gmail the best)
They offer complete mobile integration on most platforms (something that MS Exchange doesn't do particularly well)

Cons:
All of it's desktop web apps bar gmail are not up to scratch compared to MS Office or iWork.

Oli

Personally I would have serious concerns in dealing with any business that relied on "Cloud Computing" to store any of my personal data. I have no intention of ever using any of the cloud resources myself and would swiftly find another business using it's own servers and actual PC based software to run it's business.

To me apart from it's Search engine, which is all I use, anything Google does comes over to me of just doing things "on the cheap" and does not give a good business impression.

Just my two cents.

We store no sensitive/important information on Google bar our email, everything else is on our PCs and various flash drives.

At our organisation we switch between computers so regularly in so many different locations, having good reliable webmail is very important, as well as access to contact information and for few of our employees calendar is too.

We store non sensitive documents (such as advertising) in Google Docs so that we can change/distribute it at short notice from any where.

The big plus though is that we get this all for free, it may be 'cheap' but have you tried finding anything as good for the same price from a well known brand?

Oli