On Monday Google released a relatively
minor, but useful, feature. It's worth examining a bit more closely, because it's yet
another signal that Google is quietly pecking away at Microsoft's lunch in office
software. Now I know that Microsoft Office has a lot of advanced functionality that the
online office apps don't have, but hear me out...
The new feature is a one-click import feature for attachments in Gmail. The D&S team explained:
"Whenever those of you who use Gmail receive a spreadsheet or a document in an email, you will see a new link next to the "Download" link that says "Open as a Google document." Click on that and the attachment will automatically be imported into Docs & Spreadsheets and added to your personal document list where you can make changes, invite collaborators and search for it later."
In the Google Groups mailing list for D&S, one of the guides listed a couple of "caveats" to this:
"- This feature is only available in Gmail.
- And, at this time it only works with Microsoft Word documents (.doc)."
It also works with Microsoft Excel files (.xls), which the guide clarified in a latter comment.
So, this new feature specifically targets Microsoft Office documents and spreadsheets -- and it only works in Google's email program. If I were a conspiracy theorist, I would be a blindingly obvious one. Yes, Google is making it super easy for users to open up Microsoft's (proprietary) file formats in Google's online version of Word and Excel. In Jay Fortner's excellent SWOT analysis yesterday of Microsoft and the new threat of online office suites, he pointed out that competitors such as Google, Zoho, and AjaxWriter "could build critical mass through the installed base of former Microsoft users." And this, in a tiny but significant way, is what this new integration between Gmail and Google D&S is about. Google is quietly compelling Gmail users to switch from Word and Excel to Google D&S.
Granted, the main flaw in this strategy is that Google has mostly failed to get a large user base in Gmail over the past couple of years, which gives them a smaller pool of potential Microsoft Office converts. Gmail is the least used web email service amongst the Big 3 - Yahoo and MSN email services are far bigger. Imagine if Google had Yahoo Mail's 250-odd million users! Now that would make the webmail/D&S integration a major play...
Miramar Mike points out a slight flaw in the execution too - there's no connection from the imported doc/spreadsheet back to the originating email, so it loses a bit of context (more a missed opportunity than a glaring omission).
I don't want to overstate the importance of this small feature in Gmail and D&S, or use it to proclaim the death of Microsoft Office. The battle between Microsoft and Google for office software market share is deep and complex, as Jay's post and the excellent comments to it show. But this new integration feature is another example of how the desktop and online worlds are being munged together by Google, right under Microsoft's nose and directly threatening MS Office.
Listed below are links to blogs that reference this entry: How Google's Gmail / Docs & Spreadsheets Integration Directly Targets Microsoft.
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I noticed this as well probably as soon as it went live. I wrote about it on the 27th of the month as soon as I had seen it happen.
Posted by: Ali | January 31, 2007 5:34 AMWhen you save a Goog Doc document as a Word file, the formatting is awful. I am working on my article draft in Google Docs, but as if it will be sent to a journal for peer review, I must send it as a Word doc. I hope Goog Doc will improve in that respect.
Posted by: Attila Csordas | January 31, 2007 6:08 AMDon't forget the new Google Toolbar for Firefox gives you the option of opening up Word and Excel files you stumble upon on the web in Google D & S.
See here: http://www.google.com/support/firefox/bin/static.py?page=features.html&v=3
Next up? I predict Google Desktop will soon give you the option of opening your hard drive files in Google D & S.
Posted by: Hashim | January 31, 2007 6:11 AMNa, next will be Google opening .doc and .xls files which come up in search results (and there are a fair few out there) directly in D&S
Posted by: mc | January 31, 2007 8:40 AMRemember, also, that Yahoo Mail has been around FAR longer and the sign-up requirements are FAR less restricted than Gmail. Give Gmail some time and they'll have the 250-odd users that Yahoo has, and by that time D&S will be so much better that the bugs and formatting errors we run into now will seem laughable.
Posted by: Steve | January 31, 2007 8:52 AM250-odd million - lol, sorry . . . what a mistake . . .
Posted by: Steve | January 31, 2007 8:56 AMWow, Gmail is the smallest of the three but don't we all remember that is the youngest of three. Yahoo and Hotmail have been around a long time and Gmail popped out of nowhere and has the best space to store all your emails. Gmail has a high user base for appearing later than the other emails. Google is just trying to create more items and diversifying its projects to go in all fields.
Posted by: Shortshire | January 31, 2007 9:49 AMI don't think calling Gmail "smallest of the three" is a reliable statement.
Yahoo & Hotmail both have grossly inflated numbers thanks to dead accounts, spammer accounts, and spam catching accounts. Gmail's "invite only" approach seems to have limited the amount of that stuff on their system.
Posted by: Eric | January 31, 2007 9:59 AMSpecifically, it looks like Google is targeting users of pre-2007 Office. Office 2007 natively uses a new format (.docx, .xlsx, .etcx) which Google Docs does not yet recognize.
This seems timed with the release of the new Office suite to sway people from upgrading just yet. I for one have tried Office 2007 and will avoid upgrading from Office 2003 at all costs, especially when I have web-based alternatives (or at least compliments) to desktop Office applications.
Posted by: Chris Bennett | January 31, 2007 10:27 AMI agree Gmail is the youngest of the 3 and I've said before how I think it's the best webmail service out there. But according to the official stats, it's about 1/5 the size of Yahoo Mail.
But I'd like to see any links or pointers to info that talks more about the "dead accounts, spammer accounts, and spam catching accounts" in Y! and MSN. You may well have a point Eric, so it's worth following up. Anyone know of links to more info on that?
Posted by: Richard MacManus | January 31, 2007 11:59 AMThis is what Seth Godin was willing to see in his web 4.0 post. Useful feature indeed.
Posted by: Emre Sokullu | January 31, 2007 2:44 PMA few months ago, I wrote a blog post on what a Google Killer feature would be: Group Chat with IRC like capabilities.
Check it out: http://www.mikevu.com/?p=95 .
What do you guys think?
Posted by: Michael Vu | January 31, 2007 4:08 PMRegarding the fact that Yahoo Mail having 5x the user base of Gmail, it's in large part due to 2 main things:
1. Yahoo Mail has been out a lot longer.
2. Yahoo Mail has a big international user base.
I think an interesting statistic to find out is how many Yahoo Mail users also have Gmail accounts.
Posted by: Michael Vu | January 31, 2007 4:21 PMThanks for link Richard
Posted by: Mike Riversdale | January 31, 2007 4:51 PMWeird - this has been working (for spreadsheets) in my account for ages. It also doesn't let you open anything like large attachments. But - the collabarative features make it a killer-app for me.
Posted by: Phillip Chambers | February 1, 2007 4:34 AM