Google Software Takes On Microsoft

[Farma]

Google software takes on Microsoft

From correspondents in San Francisco

February 23, 2007 05:39am

INTERNET titan Google began selling an online suite of business software overnight in a new challenge to software powerhouse Microsoft.

"Google Apps Premier Edition'' packages communication and collaboration programs that are hosted on the internet giant's computers and available to use by businesses for a $US50 annual fee.

In contrast to the Microsoft model that requires companies to buy software, install it on machines and maintain it, Google will tend to the programs on its servers and customers will access them via the internet.

The shift to applications being hosted online instead of on home or business computers is considered a defining characteristic of "Web 2.0,'' or the second-generation internet………………..

Continued here http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0...5003402,00.html

[cdnvic]

I'll stick with Open Office as my alternative. Feel safer with my office stuff stored locally.

[Farma]

My thoughts too cdnvic. If it's on their server it makes me wonder who can access your files.

[astral]

No good when the internet is down, or you are in a hotel.

I am an Open Office user too.

[Wolfie]

I'm guessing the executables etc will be stored on the google servers and the files created will still be stored locally.

If google want to try and insist the produced files are stored on their servers then they wont be selling many copies of their new business applications, i assure you

I will be like having Word/Excel/Powerpoint on your PC without taking up your hard drive space. But i agree i will stick to more conventional tools. Also $550 a year subscription puts this out of reach of most personal users and i think businesses will have a hard time justifying the purchase. Just my thoughts.

[farangsay]

I read the subscription cost as US$50 not US$550 and checked the article to confirm.

The notion of software rental has actually been a wet dream for Gates et al for some time.

It guarantees future cash flow , as customers become committed to the product through

the data they have created through it , and renders piracy well nigh impossible.

Internet availability or connectivity does render Google's approach problematic.

[Wolfie]

doh your right, my eyes are not working today! $50 not $550. Makes it more affordable/reachable to home users

[Crushdepth]

It might be free for home use. I think it's the combined package/integration with other services that you have to pay the $50 for.

I was playing with Googledocs this morning. It's still a bit clunky/slow, at least on the internet speeds available here. I didn't particularly like the formatting either - I typed in a dummy document then downloaded it as Word to see how it would look and it came out a bit ugly, so I'll be doing my after hours word processing in Open Office. However, it might be useful for nocking together collaborative drafts.

I'm shifting my office email domain to Google Apps this afternoon though. Will be interesting to see if our staff actually make use of the other stuff like the shared online calendar etc.

[singa-traz]

I'm guessing the executables etc will be stored on the google servers and the files created will still be stored locally.

If google want to try and insist the produced files are stored on their servers then they wont be selling many copies of their new business applications, i assure you

I will be like having Word/Excel/Powerpoint on your PC without taking up your hard drive space. But i agree i will stick to more conventional tools. Also $550 a year subscription puts this out of reach of most personal users and i think businesses will have a hard time justifying the purchase. Just my thoughts.

Software as a Service is coming BIG ... large corporates now do not hesitate to host their sensitive information on external provider data center ... so why the lambda user would need to worry about his privacy ... 20th century mentality ...

[Crushdepth]

I suspect we'll see greater concern over online hosting and privacy issues in the future. Particularly once governments, the police and divorce courts start sticking their noses into all the hosted data (more than they do now). It's an irresistible target.