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Microsoft Accuses Google Docs of Data Infidelity

Hugh Pickens writes "For years Google has been pitching migrations from Microsoft Office to Google Docs, arguing that Docs makes Office 2003 and 2007 better because users can store Microsoft Office documents in Google's cloud and share them in their original format. Now eWeek reports that Alex Payne, director of Microsoft's online product management team, says that moving files created with Office to Google Docs results in the loss of data fidelity, including the loss of such data components as charts, styles, watermarks, fonts, tracked changes, and SmartArt. 'They are claiming that an organization can use both seamlessly,' Payne writes. 'This just isn't the case.' Meanwhile, Google defended its original 'Docs makes Office better' in a statement, noting that it has made a lot of improvements to the web editors in Docs with its recent refresh, and promising that functionality will only get better as Google integrates the DocVerse assets into Docs. 'It says a lot about Microsoft's approach to customer lock-in that the company touts its proprietary document formats, which only Microsoft software can render with true fidelity, as the reason to avoid using other products,' says a Google spokesperson."

4 of 178 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Google vs Microsoft by DarkKnightRadick · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    I actually have to agree with you on this one. The same problems exist (or existed) with OOo formats IIRC (I haven't used docs in about 2 years, so things may have changed) and they have always been open.

    This is one case where Google's claims of "good enough" just don't make the grade.

    --
    "There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death." Proverbs 16:25 (NKJV)
  2. Re:PDF? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    Fuck you and fuck your piece of shit company you pompous asswipe. Nobody gives a fuck about your OCD need to fellate Ballmer and co.

    FOAD.

  3. Re:Not quite. by FuckingNickName · · Score: 1, Flamebait

    That's a fairly accurate summary of the pompous attitude at Google: "We're so smart that if we fuck up it must be someone else's fault." Its spokestroll didn't even say, "The specs are hard to read and we are too self-confident to ask for clarification on the official MS developer forums," instead bitching about some unfair advantage for Microsoft which isn't even properly specified. Let me tell you a spec so convoluted that no-one has ever written a full implementation of a recent incarnation: the W3C's HTML. The difference is that web site designers all test in multiple browsers, whereas document creators don't have the time to test in multiple Office suites.

    Guess what? A higher degree and a good canteen don't necessarily make you smart (I'm sure many of us can attest to that :)), nor do they make you able or willing to understand communications from fellow humans. Not invented here!

  4. Re:Err right? by greentshirt · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    Leave my mother out of this, you insensitive clod.

    Also, you may want to reconsult the blog you're getting your grammar lessons from.

    Da Rulez, Hommie