First off, we apologize for being off the radar screen the last several weeks. The good news is that we’ve been bouncing around the country making money as part of our real jobs and haven’t really had much time to devote to this blog. We hope that things will (only slightly) slow down so that we can get back to a more regular schedule.
However, we just have to comment on the recent announcement by Google that they have rewritten Google Docs. According to InformationWeek, this is in direct competition to Microsoft Word. Google has taken an interesting turn with the rewrite. Google Docs now updates in a near real-time mode rather than the 15 second or so delay for the previous version. This is intended to improve the collaboration experience by providing “immediate” updates for all participants. Another interesting decision is the dropping of off-line access to the documents. Apparently Google thinks that everybody has the Internet in their pocket and can access their information at all times, whether in the bathroom, hotel or at 35,000 feet. Technically, anytime Internet access is a near reality, but we doubt that this decision will be very popular.
Make no mistake about it; Microsoft Office is here to stay, at least for the near term. The majority of users will keep Office even if they move to Google Docs. The primary reason to use Google Docs is for the collaboration aspect. Microsoft plans to counter this by providing this same function in Office 2010.
- John and Mike
(703) 359-0700
digitalsamurai@senseient.com
www.senseient.com
