Google: Firms can get rid of Office in a year
Summary
Dave Girouard, president of Google's enterprise division, says Google Docs will reach a "point of capability" next year that will serve the "vast majority's needs."
Topics
SINGAPORE--In a year, most enterprises will have the choice to "get rid of [Microsoft] Office if they chose to", suggests Dave Girouard, president of Google's enterprise division.
Girouard, one of the company's four presidents including founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, said in an interview with ZDNet Asia that he expects Google's online document application, Google Docs, to reach a "point of capability" next year that will serve the "vast majority's needs."
He acknowledged that Docs is currently "much less mature" than Google Mail or Calendar. "We know it. We wouldn't ask people to get rid of Microsoft Office and use Google Docs because it is not mature yet," he said.
But, this is expected to change in a year, when the company's introduces some "thirty to fifty" updates to Docs to beef up the SaaS (software-as-a-service) office suite. These will include updates to features and performance, Girouard said.
"That having been said, I don't think Office will entirely disappear," he added. Instead, Microsoft's offering will become a specialized offering for office workers who need its additional functions, akin to Adobe Photoshop, which is targeted at skilled workers, said Girouard. Microsoft Office is "an overkill tool for most people", he noted.
For more, read "Google: Firms can get rid of Office in a year" on ZDNet Asia.
Talkback Most Recent of 59 Talkback(s)
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In other words, Google Apps
are still at that 1 to 2 percent mark.
GuidingLight13th Nov 2009 -
In terms of what is need for the majority of office workers, Google Apps is
already there. But, to unwind all of the huge mess
created my MS Office will take some time.
DonnieBoy13th Nov 2009 -
Google will win because of their talent
Google has the BEST talent on board,
Coders who are Open_Source and Linux distro
users who do this because they want to NOT
because they have to.
MS has a huge lethargic monopoly that is like trying
to move frozen molasses to a level playing field.
By the time they can get re-assimilated Google plans
on having their product ready to go.
Plus, ONLINE storage/email/backups/data_archiving/
you name it. Google is in the PERFECT position to
pounce and let the LOWER cost of doing business
pave this highway.
Companies to not want to invest in new hardware
just to run a HUGE Operating System or Office Suites
when Google has what they need and it is secure.
linux_kernel13th Nov 2009 -
And, Google is competing smarter, not even trying to duplication MS Office,
since hairball of the baroque features in MS Office
are fading fast in importance due to the emergence
of the cloud.
By the time MS figures out what hit them, Google
will have the best features for the 21st century,
and MS Office will still have a tangled legacy of
old features for printing on 8.5x11.DonnieBoy13th Nov 2009 -
Pray tell however
All well and good. A few questions though. What would happen if:
A) In many situations, even an hour delay of not being able to access company-wide files goes beyond unacceptable. Google cloud is hit with a g-mail-like outage, say in the middle of a work day. What does a company do if the shared documents are mission critical?
B) What assurances can a company that relies on Google Docs have in terms of the security of its potentially valuable data? I'm talking sepcificaly about assurances that go beyond a 'promise' made by one legal entity to another.
C) Company requires any sort of scripting or VBA application development/usage for its mission-critical documents?
I love google docs for personal use, but I just don't see Google being able to address all three with any degree of reliability. I can see the service becoming useful for very low-level importance communications and collaboration, but not any serious work.
"The views expressed here are mine and do not reflect the official opinion of my employer or the organization through which the Internet was accessed."
gnesterenko13th Nov 2009 -
Pray tell however
"A) In many situations, even an hour delay of not being able to access company-wide files goes beyond unacceptable. Google cloud is hit with a g-mail-like outage, say in the middle of a work day. What does a company do if the shared documents are mission critical?."
And What Happend if they have one of their Servers (google) IN HOUSE?
if it is a Big Company i`m sure they will have one of their servers running inside of the customers Company?
TheCableGuyNY13th Nov 2009 -
Thats why MS might win this one.
And What Happend if they have one of their Servers (google) IN HOUSE? - TheCableGuyNY
Because they wont - end of story. MS however is already providing that with Office 2010 you buy one corporate license you get both a desktop and a SaaS model. So yes you can host inside your own company Office 2010 SaaS.
I doubt very much you will get the same offer from google any time soon. If you do great. But I doubt it very much - kind of eats at their core biz and ultimately opens up their dirty little secrets to prying eyes 8).
Ultimately this claim that internal hosted stuff exchange, office (huh?), file storage experience more breakdowns that say google is full of it or works in some 10-50 user shop who cant afford to invest in enterprise gear.
Lets say you have 5000 workers. They all need email. With google thats ummm 250K/yr. I've set up a reliable, redundant exchange system with awesome fiber channel storage + all licensing for say $500k. Now lets see by the time year 3 rolls around everythings probably good for 2 more years and I've not only hit the break-even point but I've actually written down my initial outlay by half. Year 4, written down to -0- cost. Add in labor maybe 120K/yr - still in a win by year 5. How about year 6 and 7...
Ultimately when the "fad" fades and people start looking at the books again not what looks good on the front page of a trash rag like zdnet then you might not see the mass defection to google that everyone envisions. All MS would have to do is say cut the price by 25% of the licensing (which they do and more for large account like 90% reduction) and in the end you have less reason.
We'll see but the math still doesnt work out.
aktazdevil14th Nov 2009 -
What would happen if ...
My company is a Google Enterprise partner, so
I'm probably a bit biased, but I've worked with
Exchange and Windows infrastructure for many
years. Anyway, here are my responses to your
points.
A) This is a serious problem. The unpleasant
fact is, though, many organizations have
internal outages within their own
infrastructure quite often.
B) Google has gone to great lengths to provide
security of Apps content, including SAS 70
certification. I'm far more concerned about
security than most of my peers, and I feel far
more confident storing data in their
infrastructure than I would storing it in that
of most Fortune 500s. The fact is, most
information leakage doesn't come from security
problems in the base infrastructure, but from
users who aren't security conscious, and
arguably you'll have fewer problems with those
users if the actual content is stored in the
cloud rather than on local hard drives.
All that said, it's nice to have those legal
assurances, and you simply don't have those if
you're hosting your own infrastructure.
C). Google App Engine.
http://www.google.com/google-d-
s/scripts/appengine.html
Dave Watts, CTO, Fig Leaf Software
figcto13th Nov 2009 -
Right. which is why at
1 percent, it seems most disagree with you.
Add to that your obvious hatred of all things Microsoft (or are you just another troll, the jury is stil out on that one) has obviouslly clouded your perception of how things really are, which is why you statements hold no real insight or meaning.
Good luck with that fanasy.
GuidingLight13th Nov 2009 -
It seems that your 1% number is overly optimistic on your part.
Especially since I already know of a number of major companies already
waiting to migrate over... not counting a number of city governments as
well.
vulpine@...13th Nov 2009 -
Interesting thing here donnieBoy
We wouldn't ask people to get rid of Microsoft Office and use Google Docs because it is not mature yet
So goole is saying that in a year it will be able to do everything that Office does, yet you said that Office does things (like printing) that nobody wants, yet to have it compete google is trying to add those features themselves.
So it appears that you have been totally incorrect all this time.
And yet you say, to unwind all of the huge mess created my MS Office will take some time, yet no-one says that MS Office makes any kind of mess, except you.
Grasping at straws still, I see.GuidingLight13th Nov 2009 -
Hmmm...more like the 55 to 65% mark.
I.E. More than people need.
Why pay for extra if you won't use it?
No More Microsoft Software Ever!13th Nov 2009 -
Man, so true, MS Office is a big hairball of baroque features to format for
8.5x11. MS Office will be on a downward slide from here
on out.DonnieBoy13th Nov 2009 -
Good Riddance!
It won't be missed.
The Mentalist13th Nov 2009 -
So long MS Office like MS Mobile it has to go away
What happened to Windows Mobile?
The same thing will happen to the bloated
MS Office with Windows Operating Systems
that take a small SAN to hold the OS.
Good bye and don't forget to defrag the
virus/worm infested drives!linux_kernel13th Nov 2009
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