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Google Enters Web-Office Market
jaiva writes "Google's official blog tells us that Google has acquired Writely, a collaborative word processor." From the article: "To be clear, Writely is still in beta, and it's far from perfect. Upholding our great user experience means everything to us, so we're not accepting new registrations until we've moved Writely to Google's software architecture. If you're interested in giving us a try, we hope you'll get on the waitlist so we can let you know when you'll be able to try out Writely."
till i can upload my company files to an American advertising based company so they can rifle through our documents looking for whatever them or their goverment takes their fancy
yeah i can predict this will be a great success
You were expecting a "web-office" to work without javascript?
We've always been at war with Eurasia.
On one hand, this may be an intro into a market in which Google will begin to destroy Microsoft's market share. On the other hand, this could be just the opportunity Microsoft needs to bring Google down. Google and Microsoft will now have products in the same category: Word Processors.
Not only "land of the free" but "land of the lawyers" who love a good old 1st amendment smackdown. Shihar 153932
Writely is based upon ASP.NET.
Will this save them appreciable time? They will have to do a rewrite or be based on Microsoft technology (yeah, right).
it requires junk like cookies and javascript
If you care so much as to turn cookies and javascript off (like myself) then you probably would not use an online office suite anyway.
Guy asked me for a quarter for a cup of coffee. So I bit him.
To me it's fairly straightfoward. They are prototyping all of these web-office apps over the internet, to get all scaleability and usability issues worked out.
Then, they'll start selling servers running the whole productivity suite to replace Microsoft exchange/office to businesses.
What IT department wouldn't seriously consider moving to a system where desktop application upgrades happen once at the server and the only thing needed to support it on the workforce's machines is a web browser? Every employees documents stored on the "G:" drive that is easily tracked and backed up, rather than having to worry about remote backups on each desktop?
Please, do explain how exactly you'd implement anything like a word processor in a browser without cookies and javascript. Perhaps we should only us IE and Active X.
My guess is that you got "flamebait" because there wasn't an "ignorant" option.
Or they'll just buy Jotspot.
So now google has expanded into other territory. Half of their services are in perpetual beta. Thanks to keyword spamming and gaming the google, their search results are often useless. Click fraud is very real.
Google is a threat, but they're a threat to themselves.
Do you even lift?
These aren't the 'roids you're looking for.
Is this an attempt for Google to compete with Microsoft in word processing? Because as cool as this may be, it's going to be mighty difficult to topple Microsoft in that department. The Office Suite is so embedded in the corporate world and homes that garnering support for this product will be difficult at best. People know how to use Word. The majority won't want to go to something else that is new and shiny. CIO's won't take the risk of switching over to a new system when they already have a tried and tested system in place.
Microsoft already whipped most opposition to it. Also, after development is this going to be free or is the consumer going to end up paying for the privelege?
It appears more and more apparent that Google is basing their business model on Microsoft (acquire and re-badge).
I'd love to see Google actually take the fight to Microsoft on something that Microsoft has not traditionally been strong at and show them how it should be done. Show them that they are innovaters and not just tagging along on already established software. Trying and compete with them on this front is almost a lost cause.
This is technical nonsense. Just because you have been told that these are your only options does not mean it is true.
So answer the question people are putting in front of you. How do you plan to offer a rich text editor on the order of Microsoft Word without using JavaScript to manipulate the DOM? Keep in mind that the browser Rich Text Editing control is dependent on JavaScript for operation.
Go ahead, tell us. We're listening very closely at the moment. Your answer will mark you as either as an amazing genius or technologically ignorant. If you attempt to evade the issue (like you've been doing), the mods will simply assume you're troll. (As will everyone else.)
Javascript + Nintendo DSi = DSiCade
Google:
We know what you have. (You've indexed your hard drives.)
We know where you [and family] live. (All mark their homes on Google Maps.)
We know who you like; we know who you hate. (Chat & e-mail.)
We know what you buy. (Let's be frugal.)
We know where you go. (What's happening G-locally?)
We know when you sleep; when you awaken. (Usage analysis.)
And now, we know virtually all your thoughts & plans. (Using Writely?)
Motto: At Google, your world is our world.
/.'s Psychic-in-Residence: Psychic to the Geeks
Fixed it for you. Now THAT'S collaborating.