Google Apps ups Quickoffice integration, eyes Windows 8 on tablets
Summary: Google Apps makes an anti-Microsoft Office play as it continues to integrate Quickoffice into the fold.
The Google enterprise team has published an update about how it is integrating Quickoffice and its office productivity solutions into Google Apps for business customers.
The primary focus of the update is to inform Google Apps customers about how to convert old Microsoft Office files to Google documents and then edit them directly in Quickoffice.
Jonathan Rochelle, director of product management for Google Drive, asserted in a blog post on Wednesday that the team has "incorporated Quickoffice conversion technology into this process so your Microsoft Word, Excel and Powerpoint files look even better when you convert them to Google Docs, Sheets and Slides, respectively."
The key words there are "look even better" on Google Apps products. Essentially, this is a play to compete with Windows 8 on tablets.
To recall, Google acquired Quickoffice in June -- months ahead of the release of Windows 8.
But now that Windows 8, the Surface and other new Win 8 devices are out on the market, it's time to turn the competition up a notch. Thus, Google is pulling out more stops to demonstrate support for as many apps and platforms as possible to please as many business customers as possible.
To nudge this strategy along, Google is making Quickoffice available on the iPad for free -- at least for Apps customers. With this app, Rochelle promised that Apps users could open and edit any Office files stored in Google Drive right from an iPad.
But smartphones won't be neglected for long. Android and iPhone versions are promised to follow soon.
Images via The Google Enterprise Blog
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Talkback
Google apps and products are a joke...
People are done with Google 'products'.
Yeah, sure
I dont like those companies at all but people who criticies Google, are usually turning blind eye for microsoft, nokia and apple. Like no one is whining how for years has nokia avoided paying taxes to finland when they have got tens of millions support from that country while taxes being between 0 and 250k euros.
No, seriously..not good at all.
Some have it, some dont.
If you think MS just wasted the last..how many years now? On Office productivity software, your out of your mind.
How is anyone ever going to catch up on that?
Not good at all
Troll
Why?
Because it is worth
That's for sure
No Enterprise is going to use this crap. Small-business might but why would you? You don't use a free razor to shave your face or legs?
not sure about face
if he was a apple employee
And I thought this was for commenting on the article...
Oh yeah, Quickoffice, I remember that one. Had it installed on my KYOCERA 7035 smart phone that ran Palm OS, way back when....
It was a great office product, as I recall. I still have the KYOCERA 7035 in a box along with the folding keyboard, dock and other accessories. Kinda makes me want to charge it up just to see all the stuff I did back then in Quickoffice. I wonder if the battery will charge up....
Sometimes Google just doesn't make sense
Where I stand trying to replace 1 program with 2 is a bad trade off. Especially since the program in the middle, quickoffice, was not designed from the ground up to do what Google is marketing it to do.
Google should have just made their own app, so it does exactly what they need it to do and it can carry their brand name.
Quickoffice was the lowest user rated office suite for a reason.
Lowest user rated office suite?
From what I see searching around Quickoffice gets pretty good ratings from users. From my own "hands-on" experience using it on a Palm device years ago there was nothing else like it and it worked great. Quickoffice has been around since 1997 and was the only way to read and edit MS Office docs and spreadsheets, etc. on a mobile device back then. Since that time they have kept developing for mobile, something that might be seen as insightful, considering the current mobile marketplace.
What Google is really acquiring is the employee base. Quickoffice has plenty of developers that know how to work with Microsoft formatted documents and translate them to other formats on a variety of mobile platforms. If Google wants to take a bite out of Microsoft's Office space, they've got to show that they can do everything Microsoft Office does and more. Quickoffice now gives Google a popular office app in the Apple app store. I am surprised this was not covered in the article.
I didn't say it sucked, just that it was lowest rated
I'm not debating what Quickoffice is capable of, just that Google should have created their own app much like they have with others. In this case it is really odd, because Google already has a team in Google Docs doing everything you suggest.
Why add another team working on a totally different project and try to revamp that app into some sort of go between for MS-Office and Google Docs? Why not just make a Google Docs app and skip the transformation of a tool/team that might not work out or offer some confusing dual program solution.
OK, I was not under the impression you said it sucked.
As mentioned above this reply: "What Google is really acquiring is the employee base. Quickoffice has plenty of developers that know how to work with Microsoft formatted documents and translate them to other formats on a variety of mobile platforms."
Perhaps..
It is such a mixed message if this is their Windows8 strategy. Use Quickoffice to convert MSOffice documents to look better on Google Docs.
Excel, Word, Powerpoint and Onenote are already free with 7gb skydrive (also free)
Every Windows8RT tablet comes MSOffice installed.
If Google wants to entice Windows8 users away from MS office, they need to do it with an app that says Google Docs. Maybe Google Docs for desktop or whatever, but it should be branded the same.
You have no credibility
Office suites
Almost never use MS-Office anymore
Same here...