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Google Scoops Microsoft w/ Mesh Applications
Julie188 writes "Google's offline access for Google Apps is a kick in the shin at Ray Ozzie. Google took a page right out of the Ozzie mesh playbook when it announced the offline access (let's call it Google Docs Unplugged). Google delivered desktop apps from the cloud first and then added unplugged functionality. Microsoft wants to do the same, but in reverse, and faces an infinitely bigger challenge: rebuild Microsoft apps so they can become cloud enabled while pulling its giant channel (and embedded software) along in the process. Good luck with that, Microsoft. But then again, just because Google is making faster progress doesn't mean much. There's no guarantee users will like the unplugged versions of cloud apps."
Google didn't hardly delivered Docs in the cloud first, it bought Upstartle and inherited Writely which then was rebranded as Docs.
It is in-browser. It uses Google Gears, a small open source extension that makes it easy for people to turn on-line apps into off-line apps. It works on major platforms and browsers, including Windows, Windows Mobile, MacOS, and Linux. Remember The Milk, Zoho Office, and others are already using Google Gears, as is Google Reader.
Google Docs off-line was an obvious use for Google Gears, and the main question is: why did it take so long?
It's a good bet that off-line versions of GMail and Google Calendar are next.
As someone else pointed out, SharePoint is more akin to storing docs online, sharing them with people, communicating with them, wiki functionality, etc.
And as someone who just implemented a SharePoint system, SharePoint is very expensive and requires some massive hardware. Google Docs is free and requires zero hardware purchase.
http://blindscribblings.com - Tasty pop-culture in conceptual fashion.
From wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Gears
I Am My Own Worst Enemy
Not really, SharePoint is just a Web Framework with support for office documents, but you are require to have a copy of office in your machine to work with, OTOH google applications run on the server and display on your browser.....
Regards.
We're actually comparing Google Docs and Office Live for a client rollout and I put both them both head-to-head yesterday. Clearly, some of your information is outdated.
;)
... and make editing online next to impossible.
(1) Google Docs sharing is actually live; you can see other people's edits being made in real time,
Same with Office Live. Different way of "seeing" and I prefer Google's but both work. And with a OneNote Notebook shared? Now THAT is nice and I prefer that to both.
(2) all you need with Google Docs is a web browser--nothing to install,
As long as you are editing/viewing someone else's Office Live Document, the same is true.
(3) Google Docs are data sources and sinks for mashups and other applications (including web forms submissions)
I honestly have no idea on this one so I'll take your word on it. More to the point, I'd be curious to know about how easy those mashups are to create in Google Docs. I guess I've got more research to do!
(4) user management and sharing is much, much simpler with Google Docs--you can share and work with anybody,
Not true. This was the biggest surprise for me. The ease of use for inviting others is the same. In Office Live, it's as easy as entering someone's email address. Seriously. I expected it to be much more complicated from everything I read. It is not.
(5) Google Docs can integrate with both MS Office and OpenOffice,
Or the flip side of this is to say that Google Docs will not open MS Word documents like people expect them to. And Spreadsheets will not open and look like you would think they should look in Excel. With Office Live, the curve is much less steep. Yes, proprietary formats are evil and the cause of this in the first place. Etc. etc. etc. But if you are a business with a few hundred spreadsheets that might or might not open as expected in Google Docs, Office Live becomes hard to ignore.
(6) Google Docs has mobile access.
Nope. Or rather, yes, I guess you can *view* your Google Docs in a mobile view. But there is no way to edit them, at least from the phone I was testing it on. The same is true for Office Live. Both have great mobile viewers
There's a lot of testing we have yet to do. And we aren't even close to deciding between the two. (Free as in beer vs. works with 100% of your current documents.) But -- as someone who spent most of yesterday comparing the two head-to-head, I really wanted to clear up that 4-5 out of your 6 points were no longer true.
I would have to say that explosives are the most abused technology in all of history.
While I agree with your post in general, I am rankled by everyone calling Docs a "barely usable hack". Every user has differing needs, and your needs simply aren't met by Docs. That's fine: don't use it.
Google Docs does provide a simple free office suite with good collaboration, sharing, and version control. There are a lot of things it cannot do well or at all (graphs, embedded objects, work quickly, etc) but that is not to say it is worthless. Some people cannot be sure that they will have access to MS Office on every machine they encounter daily, some people may want to seamlessly collaborate with people who don't own office, some people may just choose not to use MS products but still want an easy online Office Suite. There are many scenarios that I can think of where something can go wrong with the MS solution, this is where Google shines. There are many features that Office has that GDocs doesn't. Every user has to choose what it is they are really after. No reason to get upset or fling insults.
As long as you are editing/viewing someone else's Office Live Document, the same is true.
;)
Office Live doesn't let people create or edit Word, PowerPoint, or Excel files from the browser. And it doesn't work with Firefox on Linux at all (not because of Linux, but because Microsoft has disabled it).
Same with Office Live. Different way of "seeing" and I prefer Google's but both work.
In Google Docs, when one user selects and changes a cell in a spreadsheet, all other users see that in real time in their own application instances. Office Live doesn't have anything like that.
More to the point, I'd be curious to know about how easy those mashups are to create in Google Docs. I guess I've got more research to do!
Very easy. Many on-line services accept Google Docs as sources and/or sinks, you can create mashups with Google Gadgets by simply selecting a range and a gadget in the spreadsheet (and then publish the Gadget), and you can design an input form right in Docs.
The ease of use for inviting others is the same.
I can't even sign up from Linux, the sign-up process is buggy, and there doesn't seem to be anything like Google Apps.
(Free as in beer vs. works with 100% of your current documents.)
It's a myth that MS Office works with 100% of MS Office documents; there are serious version incompatibilities, font problems, and macro problems.
In fact, I find the limits Google Docs imposes on formatting to be an advantage because it keeps people from wasting their time and my time by adding tricky features to documents.
I agree, gDocs isn't all that good for academic writing. But, then, I think neither is MS Office.
For shared academic editing, I think the best choices are a Wiki with a jsMath plugin and PDF generation, or LaTeX with version control.
Office Live doesn't let people create or edit Word, PowerPoint, or Excel files from the browser.
Except that is 100% not true. Since I did that yesterday. I shared a document with someone else. She edited it. Directly from her browser. I honestly didn't expect it to work because of what I'd read here on Slashdot. I'm not trying to convert anyone here, just share what I found out yesterday for myself.
Sometimes I'm shocked how much people pass off second-hand or third-hand information instead of rolling up their sleeves and trying it out for themselves... Not trying to knock you, personally. I just think from reading what Office Live "can't do" it's clear that there are some misinformed people. I was trying to clear up some of that misinformation. We aren't football fans backing "our" team. We're professionals fascinated by technology. Right?
I would have to say that explosives are the most abused technology in all of history.
Google also can be used to find answers to questions on the internet!
http://docs.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=49008&topic=8613
You can save it locally in Word, OpenOffice, RTF, PDF, HTML or zip
So sorry, AC, but all the rational IT practitioners are listening to industry chatter, and aren't buying the rantings of an unidentifiable slashdot user wearing a tinfoil hat
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