As Microsoft tries to make their software more available online in their software + service push Google attacks the desktop.
Google has rolled out a limited version of Google docs that is now available offline and synchronizes with your online docs when you next connect.
A bit hokey but getting some serious views is this video of how the new offline function works:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7cyHYEfpRVA
As I sat here waiting for my boated version of work to open, yes I type my blog posts in word, I started thinking to myself – why would I not use Google docs rather than paying to upgrade MS Office?
In my opinion the majority of spreadsheets, word docs, and presentations could be done in Google docs with no compromise. For the 10% of office power users you will probably never make the switch but for the rest of us Google docs offers all sorts of version tracking and collaboration that is not hard to find or use making it a fabulous tool.
If you have not started thinking about value added services to wrap around Google docs and Google sites for your clients you best get in and start playing with them because it soon will be unnecessary to buy office unless they get their online version right.
The one caveat to this is Outlook. The majority of us have built our professional lives around the management features in this tool – but I would rather just buy outlook if necessary than the completed bloated office suite.
You can read about the ways Google is pushing MS office out on the Google Docs Blog:
http://googledocs.blogspot.com/2008/03/bringing-cloud-with-you.html
JC
