Office Live Workspace vs Google Docs: Feature-by-Feature Comparison
Today, Microsoft announced that the Office Live Workspace beta is publicly available for everyone to access. The site, a free web-based extension of Microsoft Office, lets you access your documents online and share your work with others. Some say that the service's launch is a direct response to Google's entry into the web office space with their Google Docs online service. If that's so, then the question now is: did Microsoft just trump Google Docs? Or does Google Docs still rule online office suites?
Office Live Workspace: The Basics
Before we review the features in detail, let's look at an overview of what Office Live Workspace offers.
After signing up for Office Live and signing into the service (and no, you don't have to have an MSN email address to do so), you are presented with the "Documents" area where you can upload and view files and share them with others.
However, the defining feature is of this service are the "workspaces." The "My Workspaces" section is to the left of the main window. You can create a new workspace by clicking on the plus button next to "New Workspace."
You can start with a blank workspace or choose one of the workspace templates provided. These templates include things like "Class Workspace," "Event Workspace," "Household Workspace," "Job Search Workspace," and more. Loading one of these templates populates the Workspace with some sample documents. For example, the "Job Search Workspace" comes pre-loaded with documents like a resume, a cover letter, an interview schedule, interview preparation notes, etc.
Files can't be edited from within workspace, but clicking on "edit" will open them up in Microsoft Office (of course). Individual documents or entire workspaces can be shared with others. Using the provided Office plug-in allows for one-click access from the desktop software to the workspace.
The workspace doesn't offer offline collaboration - instead documents are "checked out" and "checked in," but the service does integrate with SharedView for real-time screen sharing.
Feature-by-Feature Comparison
Both Google Docs and Office Live Workspace are free services, but each has its own unique set of features.
Storage Space
Microsoft Office Live Workspace is limited to 500 MB of space, which equates to about 1000 Microsoft Office documents.
I found it hard to pin down Google Docs storage space. Going into the basic information section of docs.google.com, I found two sentences stating: "Each user has a combined limit of 5000 documents and presentations and 5000 images," and "Each user has a limit of 1000 spreadsheets." However, an actual quota in MB was not specified.
File Types
Google Docs is limited to the types of files their service allows you to edit online: HTML, .txt, .doc .rtf, .odt, .xls, .csv, .ods, .tsv, .tsb, .ppt, and .pps.
Office Live Workspace allows you to upload all kinds of files, not only Office document file types. So, in addition, you can upload .PDFs, pictures, or seemingly any kind of file except those on the blocked list, which are blocked to protect users as they are file types Windows sees as executable files.
File Sizes
Google Docs allows for documents of 500 K each, plus up to 2 MB per embedded image. Presentations can be 10 MB in size. Spreadsheets can be 10,000 rows, or up to 256 columns, or up to 100,000 cells, or up to 40 sheets - whichever limit is reached first. Each spreadsheet can have up to 20,000 cells with formulas.
Regardless of the file type, Office Live Workspace allows for individual files as large as 25 MB.
Sharing
Google Docs allows for sharing of a file or files by checking the checkbox next to them and clicking "share" from the menu. Those you are sharing with can be invited as "Collaborators" or "Viewers." You can add a short note along with the invitation. Documents and presentations can be shared with 200 combined viewers, but spreadsheets have no limit.
Similarly, Office Live Workspace allows you to share documents or workspaces with others and mark them as "editors" or "viewers". You can add a note along with the message. You can also check a box to allow "everyone to view this without signing in," and/or a box to "send me a copy of the sharing invitation." Below, a read-only preview of the file is displayed. Files or workspaces can be shared with up to 100 people.
Both offer address book integration for finding recipients' email addresses.
Collaboration
In Google Docs, collaborators have the ability to work on files together, in-real time. Ten people may edit and/or view a document or presentation at any given time. Fifty people can edit a spreadsheet at the same time.
Although Office Live Workspace allows for collaboration, it's not real-time, online collaboration. Instead, if one user is editing a file, another will be informed the file is "checked out." When they finish editing and save their changes the document is checked back in for other users to access.
Versioning
Both Google Docs and Office Live Workspace keep track of older versions of a file. You can use the web interface of either to roll back to a previous copy.
Batch Uploads
Google Docs allows you to browse for a file on your computer and upload it to the service, one-by-one. Documents and presentations can be emailed in, but not spreadsheets. In January, Google released a Document List Uploader tool that provides drag-and-drop uploads to the service. Third party tools like DocSyncer can automatically upload your documents from your PC to Google Docs.
Office Live Workspace also allows for Batch Upload, but if you're not using IE, you won't see the option. IE users can click on "Add Document" and they will be presented with the option to upload a single document or multiple documents.
Integration
Google Docs is the whole offering - there is no offline software to use, but if you needed to edit files with offline software, like Microsoft Office or Open Office, because you hit a wall with Google Docs' current abilities, you could do so by downloading the file to your PC.
However, since Office Live Workspace is the web-enabled aspect of Microsoft Office software, integration is key. From within the workspace, you can click "edit" to open the file with the Microsoft Office program. The service also offers an add-in that works with Office XP, 2003, or 2007. The add-in allows you to open and save documents to and from the workspace via the software's File Menu (XP, 2003) or Office menu (2007).
Direct URLs
Both Google Docs and Office Live Workspace offer direct links to allow you to bookmark your workspace or a workspace item (Microsoft) or a file (Google Docs) via a unique URL you can save or share with others.
Folders
Google Docs allows for folders and sub-folders to store your files.
Essentially, Office Live Workspace offers folders, too, if you consider that each "workspace" is basically a folder containing files you want to group together. You can name these anything you want, but sub-folders within them are not supported.
Saving/Exporting
Google Docs allows you to save files to your computer by saving them into (depending on their original format) a Microsoft Office, Open Office, HTML, txt, or even PDF format. You choose the format you want from the menu.
Office Live Workspace of course assumes you want to save the file in Microsoft Office format or whatever other format the file is already in (ex. PDF).
Mobile Access
Google Docs are available from any mobile device, but editing is not available.
Office Live Workspace doesn't provide mobile access, unless you're a member of the Live@edu program. The Live@edu program offers students and alumni 5 GB email inboxes, 5 GB of password-protected online storage space, shared calendars, blogging tools, and access to these services on a mobile phone, all at no cost to the schools or students.
Other Features
Google Docs
- You can create a form in a Google Docs spreadsheet and send it out to anyone with an email address. They can respond directly from the email message or from an automatically generated web page and their responses are automatically added to your spreadsheet.
Office Live Workspace
- Office Live Workspace offers some nice features, such as the ability to comment on files stored on the service.
Also, an "Activities" feature keeps track of workplace activities with the new activity panel and can send you notifications when changes are made in the workspace.- Integration with SharedView beta allows Office Live Workspace users to share screens with each other in real-time.
Conclusion
Although it's very close when it comes to basic features of the two services, each stands out in its own way. Google Docs, although limited in its capabilities, offers real-time collaboration. Office Live Workspace, on the other hand, may not have the collaboration features of Google Docs, but the workspaces feature is unique. Plus, you have the capabilities of full-featured Office software available (assuming you own it)!
So, what do you think? Is Office Live Workspace a Google Docs killer? Or just a worthy competitor? Or is Google Docs the big winner?
ShareRelated Entries
1 TrackBacks
TrackBack URL for this entry: http://www.readwriteweb.com/cgi-bin/mt/mt-tb.cgi/3467
Comments
Subscribe to comments for this post OR Subscribe to comments for all ReadWriteWeb posts
Microsoft should have started this long time ago. I prefer Google for its simplicity and sharing documents online. Microsoft should make this available for everyone not just Office owners.
Very intersting...
Office Live ...without editing options...
Vista Capable ... without ability to run it properly...
And we need M$ Office too, other wise we cannot run it..?
These kind of tricks are good to lie to a 3-yrs old child or a mentally disabled person.
Every sane thinking will conclude...
Why pay for M$ Office when OpenOffice is free...
Why using Office Live when you cannot edit docs when there is Google Docs?
Why using Vista when there is.... e.g. Ubuntu?
Why buying XBOX360 when there is RROD?
Why using Microsoft product by any means?
Price is not the biggest problem. Make good product and I will buy it, I dare you M$. I HAVE the money.
Google Docs is far better than Office Live, especially thanks to its real-time collaboration and mobile access. There are some any other features of Google Docs that should have been presented, such as the chat feature in spreadsheets and presentations or the integration of Google Docs with other apps (you can schedule an event in Google Calendar from a doc, you can integrate a doc in the brand new Google Sites wiki-like application, you can transform a Google Notebook into a doc, you can use a Google Spreadsheet as a web-based bookmark storage thanks to its integration with Google Co-op subscribed links, you can also published in Blogger directly from a doc, you can use a Google Doc spreadsheet template to upload a complex Google Earth map - see Google Earth Outreach, you can access from Gmail a Google shared spreadsheet even if it has been sent as attached email, etc.).
You missed so many advantages of a very web-based workspace, and you seem to ignore that Google is preparing to launch a Google-Gears enable version of their suite that will let you access and EDIT shared docs OFFLINE directly from your Internet Browser. This has been officially announced and is currently tested by Google teams.
MS Office Live is a "workaround" to retain users. To keep Office is to play against the "in the cloud" computing trend, which is the future of collaboration. If you like a continually improved editor, don't wait years for the next Office version: Google release amazing features every week!
So glad to have found this post! i have been struggling with this question ALL WEEK as we have been battling between whether we keep all the MS products we already have and use in our organization, (including office 07, sharepoint, live messenger, and an exchange server) or scrap it all to use google apps...
as far as the editing the document online, i had no problem doing so when i created documents.. so far, not bad..
but i am very eager to speak with those of you who may be in the same boat with me?
is anyone else having trouble uploading documents to edit? I tried several different formats with strict naming conventions (full extensions, no spaces, dashes, etc.), but kept getting the same "This document failed to upload..." error.
I'm using Firefox 2.0.0.12 for OS X.
important ‘Feature’ missing from your list, speed. office live (beta) or any other MS tools are so slooooooooooow , this is the achilles hill of anything ms will put out for us to use.
@Jrome: thanks for filling in the blanks with details on Google docs' integration aspects. :)
I actually didn't know you could schedule a calendar appt from a doc...never used that, I guess...I schedule appts in my calendar :)
You can, however, publish to a blog from Word,and not just Blogger. Word supports Blogger, Spaces, Wordpress, Typepad, Community Server, Sharepoint, and "other" where you can fill in the API/post URL. So, to be clear, blog publishing is not a feature of Google Docs being a "web office" suite. (Heck, some of people's fav blog editors like Windows Live Writer & ecto are offline tools.)
chat - well, that was just an oops!
but notebook, co-op, and Google earth integration...well, that's just getting kind of esoteric...I mean, these aren't "everyman" features. Although they point to, as you say, the advantages to being web-based, following that logic, I could counter by saying that desktop software has advantages that come from them being robust software suites and *not* web-based.
Does that make Microsoft Office or Open Office better because they have features Google Docs doesn't? The features that they offer aren't necessarily things everyone uses, same as notebook, co-op, and earth integration. So mentioning those types of things alone doesn't really prove to me as a user that Google Docs is the better choice for me. It comes down to the feature set I need for the work I have to do.
For some, the ability to integrate with Google Earth is going to be awesome. But for others it's going to be things that traditional office software does and if you want to do a real feature-by-feature comparison, it's desktop software that is more feature-rich in the end...*at least for now.* (Can I point back to our previous comment of the day: http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/google_docs_fail.php ?)
Anyway, I think that the real battle in the end is going to be web office vs software + services. Unless web office software becomes as feature-rich as its offline cousins, then it will never be good enough for everyone. Even if Google Docs released a new feature every day, it could be years until it caught up with what desktop software does now.
@Kara C: read http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/google_sites_the_next_sharepoint_maybe_notwhy_google_apps_could_lose_the_enterprise_market.php
it's long, but worth your time esp before making a big switch like that
also check out http://www.microsoft.com/online/default.mspx
Just the fact that Office Live workspace requires you to own MS office is a no-go for me :(
I have tried both the services and as you said, it's very close. Depending upon the attribute you prioritize the most you can go for it.
Hey Sarah,
If you want to focus on "everyman" features, why not to highlight the awesome GoogleLookUp function?
Here are the few steps:
1. Create a Google Spreadsheet
2. Tape "bmw" in A2, "mercedes" in A3 and "nissan" in A4
3. Select A2:A4 and, while holdind the Ctrl key, expand your selection until A50.
4. Say "wow"
5. Tape "employees" from B2 to B50.
6. Enter "=googlelookup(A2; B2)" in C2 and expand the formula until C50
7. "wow", again
Here are some of the types of entities you can access using GoogleLookup, and a few popular attribute names:
Countries and Territories (like "Burkina Faso"): population, capital, largest city, gdp
U.S. States (like "Tennessee"): area, governor, nickname, flower
Rivers (like "Amazon River"): origin, length
Cities and Towns (like "Chicago"): state, mayor, elevation
Musicians (like "John Lennon"): date of birth, place of birth, nationality
Actors (like "Audrey Hepburn"): date of birth, place of birth, nationality
Politicians (like "Anwar Al-Sadat"): date of birth, place of birth, nationality
U.S. Presidents (like "Zachary Taylor"): date of birth, place of birth, political party
Baseball Players (like "Wade Boggs"): games, at bats, earned run average, position
Chemical Elements (like "Helium"): atomic number, discovered by, atomic weight
Chemical Compounds (like "Isopropyl Alcohol"): chemical formula, melting point, boiling point, density
Stars (like "Betelgeuse"): constellation, distance, mass, temperature
Planets (like "Saturn"): number of moons, length of day, distance from sun, atmosphere
Dinosaurs (like "Velociraptor"): height, weight, when it lived
Ships (like "USS Chesapeake"): length, displacement, complement, commissioned
Companies (like "Hewlett-Packard"): employees, ceo, ticker
9. Take a look at other Google functions in the "Google" tab of this page: http://documents.google.com/support/spreadsheets/bin/answer.py?answer=82712&ctx=
10. "wow", again and again
These are the reasons why web-based apps are far more superior than desktop-based ones. And with more and more microformats, I bet this funtion will definitely improve the way we organize information. That could make a pretty corporate goal ;-)
Every time I attempt to use Google Docs for something constructive, it always falls down with missing features.
I have haven't managed to find an equivalent to pivot tables, and whilst it is meant to allow you to use Xpath, it seems to be such a limited implementation
There is some really cool stuff I would love to do with Google Docs, because in theory it will be able to pull API data direct from servers, but in practice it tends to fall down.
I like Zoho better than either of them.
@Jrome *that's* pretty cool!
Microsoft Office Live Workspace apparently does not work with Linux. That sucks.
A few points to make:
1. I'm surprised you didn't do a price comparison. In order to actually use Office Live Workspace for actual work, you need to own MS Office. That's typically several hundred dollars, not a small piece of information in this comparison.
2. There's also the difficulty of access with Office Live Workspace. For example, with Google Office, I can create a document on my Mac, then go to the library and access and edit it with a Linux machine, then go to my mom's house and use her PC to access and edit. Regardless of OS or location or what software you have. With Office Live Workspace, you need to have the software installed and apparently it doesn't work on Linux. That's a major drawback for those of us who require ultimate mobility.
3. Speed is also a huge issue. Creating and editing and saving a Google Doc is a snap. MS Office documents stored online must be downloaded ... then you have to open MS Office (which takes forever to load) ... then you have to work with the sluggish MS Office software (very bloated bec of all the features) then you have to save and upload. Then, if your friend wants to work on that document, he has to repeat the whole procedure over and over again. It's frustratingly slow (I've tried it), especially when you're used to the speed of Google Docs.
4. If you have lots of documents, as I do, (in the hundreds), Google Docs is also much better for organization. Not only can you tag things for easier browsing, but the search works fantastically. I don't need to worry about organization, because I just type in something related to the document (title, something in the content) and it pops up instantly. With Office Live Workspace, you have to browse through your workspaces to find stuff, then browse back to the other workspace to find another document, and so forth. It's clunky and frustrating.
5. You mentioned the collaboration issues, but it seemed to be minimized in the article. It doesn't highlight how important collaboration is these days to most information workers. Having to check out documents, edit them, then check them back in, and then wait for your colleague to do the same, and then repeat the process ... who is going to want to do that? I collaborate with partners using Google Docs and the chat feature almost daily, and if we had to follow that cumbersome process, we'd never get any work done. MS doesn't seem to understand how work is changing, how people are working these days, and seems stuck in the old, 1980s offices. Google seems to understand how people work, more and more, and if people are stuck in the MS way of working, they are going to be left behind.
This article is interesting, but it seems to have been written by someone who uses MS Office regularly, as opposed to someone who actually uses both products on a daily basis. I've used both regularly and I know that there's no comparison.
Ah, and I just noticed, Sarah, that you write for Microsoft. Not saying that means you're a bad writer, but it helps to understand the perspective of the article, as it seemed to ignore many of the faults of the MS service.
They all make a wrong hit.
There will never enough power for browser to replace apps.
There will never satisfied to store files locally.
Nobody will trust a vender completely.
To serve a file to apps, they should break it up into smaller pieces, serve them, update, combine again all live.
The app fetch necessary pieces, edit them, update them, delete, add new pieces, all in the backoffice as the user working.
The ability to break a file into several pieces and store in different location and strips, encrypt, author rights from a central point of control with pre-set rules, notice the person if certain criteria occur.
The terminal is the central control and front-end of all information. There should be openness for operators.
as for search over these information is completely another stories, the info is classified into layers, the top layer is unsearchable, only available to the central control. The layer at the bottom is complete clear, full text search is possible. The layers in between use various method to generate keys which allow search but without revalve actual information.
There should be carefully distribute the loads from the front/back-end of the system.
The current system just do not work.
In the real-world, Google Docs, Open Office and Ubuntu, etc. are so far behind it's pathetic. Who uses this stuff for actual work? Absolutely no one that I know of, and MS Office works so well there's minimal incentive to change. And since everyone use MS, it all plays together nicely. If Live Office turns out to be a useful addition to Office, I can see it quickly stomping Google Docs.
Oh, also from the real-world, storing and editing docs in the cloud is a non-starter for most people. Nothing like handing over sensitive product plans or HR reports to a search provider. Thank you, but no.
Office wins hands down. Google is a pretender at this point. It was only a matter of time. I'm sure MS is just getting started too.
Office is light years ahead of anything Google is putting out now. It's not because MS is better than Google - MS just have MORE experience in this realm. They've been producing Office for years now and have the experience to build off. This is like people trying to compare Google Sites to Sharepoint which is even more laughable.
@leo thanks for noticing that Sarah works for Microsoft!
That what explains why she CANNOT conclude that Microsoft Live Workspace is worse than Google Docs and ask us to do so after a quite biased review (all those missing "details" are quite surprising from an IT Professional...).
The very question cannot be wether Google Docs is better than Office Live Workspace since Live Workspace is an add-on.
Google Docs aims at providing a solution to "share and collaborate in real time": it hasn't revealed all its promise, is still in development and will ULTIMATELY be an alernative to Office (and all Microsoft add-ons). In the other hand, Office is a mature and out of breath software.
No one should talk about replacing Office with Google Docs, but connsider the crucial insufficiencies of Office. Collaboration matters more everyday and soon, the question will be "can I keep Office and do without a real collaborative tool?". At that moemnt, Google Docs will be Gears-enabled and I hope, Sarah will be more objective :)
It's interesting that some of the commenters are comparing Google Docs with MS Office. Google Docs isn't meant to replace Office -- it's meant to be an online alternative for those of us for whom speed, mobility, cost, collaboration, simplicity and interaction with other online tools is more important than a zillion features we don't use in a limited desktop suite that is sluggish and expensive.
They can't be compared because they're apples and oranges. If you're looking for MS Office online, you won't find it. You'll get MS Office plus Workspace, which is really just Office plus online storage. That's been available for years.
If you're looking for something that is a true online solution for those of us who work with others online, use many online tools and need to be mobile and need to work quickly ... the only option is Google Docs, as the MS options are not aimed at this crowd.
For all online backup, file sharing and storage related info, I recommend this website:
http://www.BackupReview.info
Here's two of the "extra features" for Office Live that you mentionned:
Well,@Leo - good point, re:apples and oranges.
@Jrome Also, to clarify re: Channel 10 - not a secret...google ;) my name...or my handle ("sarahintampa"). However, I need to point out, I'm not an employee of theirs. Calling out my IT cred, though? Harsh! (jk) :) The truth is there were times in my IT career that I would have definitely deployed Google Apps and times I wouldn't have - for ex: instead of the Open Office software I deployed to the stores of the furniture company I worked for, I would have killed to have everyone just using Google Docs. However, taking away Microsoft programs from the employees of the financial institution I worked for? Not on your life!
I like both products - Office & Google. I use both depending on what I need to do. Collaborate/share a basic doc/sheet? Google. Advanced stuff? Microsoft. It really depends on what you need. The ideal product for me would be a web office suite that had all the features of desktop software. I think the audience of a blog about web apps is going to have a preference, though. :)
Also, objective? LOL - did you confuse me with a journalist by accident?
MICROSOFT IS WAY LATE TO THE GAME.
FIRST SEARCH
THEN SOCIAL
NOW ONLINE SOFTWARE
They should have done this ages ago, instead they were so focused on anti-competitiveness to corner the market.
This is not an apples to apples comparison simply because the philosphy is different in case of Google Docs. I can use ANY PC anywhere to access my documents as long as I have a supported browser and a decent connection. In case of Office Live, I still need MS Office which defeats the purpose of having an online workspace in the first place.
Does microsoft's office-live-workspace allow the users to create the documents offline and upload them without having to login to the account like in eDeskOnline.
The advantage of offline editing software with rich client features is very real. Google should work with Open Office to offer the type of integration that MS offers.
At the end of the day, the truth is I'll always be using MS Office and would do so for many more years. But, the fact is if Google and Open Office can work together and improve those products that would definitely bring down the price of MS Office. Who knows, if they are really good I might even switch one day :)
very helpful review. Thanks.
Rocky
I agree, that there must be a comparison between the two (Google Documents / Office Live), but the difference is not only whether Google Documents support collaboration and Office Live is not. Other feature may well matter, but the most important part is: You don't need any additional software to use Google Documents. Let's repeat it:
You don't need any additional software to use Google Documents.
Without Microsoft Office, Office Live is basically useless. Ok, most of you may say, that most people do have Microsoft Office installed (btw. which Office versions are supported?). And you may be right, but there are quite a few people out there using Open Office by now. So, if a piece of software is able bring users to switch from Microsoft Office to Open Office, why, after some major improvements, wouldn't it be possible that users switch from Microsoft Office to Google Documents?
Let's remember, Google Documents is free, you don't have to install anything and it's still a very young project in progress. There is going to be a major change, unless Microsoft can do anything against that. Office Live isn't not that answer to Google Documents.
what about zoho??
I haven't used office live enough to compare.
One feature I think, Google can improve is versioning. Even little used docs have 100s of versions for every few seconds, making it real pain to use it.
If two diff. people are simultaneously editing a doc there is no wey to revert changes made by a person.
What is wrong with you people? You are acting like the U.S. government is mandating everyone use MS. The point of the post was to bring up the similarities and differences between Google and Microsoft, not force anyone into using one or the other.
Since I am a reasonable person with thinking skills, I will decide for myself which applications will work best for my situation. I also run an IT department, I will base my recommendations for the company on facts and knowledge that are pertinent to my situation.
I can see some of you are upset with Microsoft because they make money...get over it. Microsoft has aided in the development of personal computing for over 20 years. Google has also done an amazing job taking the Internet to the next level and bringing it into our everyday lives.
Both companies are very successful. Both companies make more money than any of us can imagine. Both companies make our technical lives better. The future will include both companies for a long, long time.
Thanks for the comparison. I've used Google Docs & Google Spreadsheet which, like any tool, work great for the right job (as Andy Beard says above you can't do pivot tables). I also own Office, so maybe I'll go take a crack at the Office Live Workspace and see for myself to see if it's worth it.
Google wins hands down in that you need M$ Office to use Office Live.
I don't have office on my machine.
Google wins, hooray!
The comparison in Information Week concludes that Office Live Workspace can't compete with Google Docs: http://www.informationweek.com/blog/main/archives/2008/03/microsofts_offi.html
Because, one more time, OLW is only a workaround for Office.
@Bill Arneson
Obviously, no one cares about who use what IF it involves only personal use. But for people "collaborating", it matters crucially to get people using the very best solution because you can't freely collaborate with people using Office (just try to edit the doc at the same time...).
Thus, by proving the quality and superiority of a web-based editor, you can make people adopt innovative solutions by informing them, so that you won't have to keep "the old and boring way".
Gmail is said to be better than Hotmail. However, we don't mind if you keep Hotmail because we can still send you email. But with Google Docs, which allows us to edit a doc without worrying about who does what, when and how, we need collaborators to choose between two solutions. And by "choose", I mean take the best one and not the more wide-spread one.
Since Microsoft has released a so-called "docs sharing platform", I want people to know what the promise of Google Docs is before MS succeed in walling in its users in an "Office system". Listen to Hotmail users who recognize that they should move to Gmail but claim that "I can't change, all my contacts have my hotmail address, which is my MSN address, which is also my login address for all those services...” As far as I know, Hotmail prevents its users to automatically forward emails to non-Microsoft email services. Microsoft has killed many services in this way, and in the future, people may say "I do know Google Docs is better, but I'm already on Office Live Workspace (...)".
This would be so sad.
The full picture may be to compare MS Workspaces to Google Sites. Google sites seems to be more robust adding some features that you do not get from just using Google Docs. Would love to see a side by side of that.
When all is said and done though, the ability to collaborate real time and the web based editor make Google Docs the winner unless you really need some of the advanced features of work and excel.
Check out this essay on the history of Microsoft.
Google is easily the winner, as it was the first to put us into a functional virtual office and most importantly, I do not have to own software unless I need a more beefy set of tools. Lets face it google is the Online apple.
Google rocks and as I only have microsofts'
castrated and retarded cousin- Works, it's
free and practical.One major drawback,though, with
google docs, is it's limited document size.I found
I had to save one document into several goggle docs
and I'm just a private individual.However I'm sure this will expand in the future and it is clean, crispy and simple to use.
There is now a plugin for OpenOffice that allows you to upload and open docs from your Google Docs account. It appears to be the same thing you can do with MS Office & Office Live.
MS Office 2007 is pretty, but does not yet have anything via Word and Excel that I use and that OpenOffice doesn't have.
Google for the win, Microsoft is just butt hurt they didn't think of it first and their market is tanking after the release of Vista.
Hmm, I have yet to try Office Live. But Google Docs is pretty good.
The entire Zoho suite of online applications is WAY better then either of these.
I feel comparing the two is apples and oranges. It is the fact that Google Docs is a web-based, rich internet application that works just as well as a desktop based application (and in some cases better) that makes it what it is. I believe one day there will be a fully web-based OS and we will be able to run all of our software off the internet in a manner reminiscent of the mainframe-terminal relationship. Better for collaboration, fits better into our current paradigm of multiple portals for a single users data (computer at home, computer at work, laptops, cellphones, etc.) and also is better for the environment! (Ok maybe that last part is a stretch.)
ms has far more to go just to catch up with google. ms is still scratching tip of online collaboration suite iceberg.
good luck ms. i am with google and not looking back.
Sarah sounds like a Microsoft fanboy to me. Microsoft always tends to over bloat their software whether online or not. The last thing I want is a bunch of useless options that only .01% of the users actually use taking 50% of my computer's resources. Google docs & spreadsheets is simple and easy to use from any environment, workstation, or even hand heald and DOESN'T require any other pricey software.
1 2 Next