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Guest bengrahamofthenorth
Posted

I'm long MSFT so this is biased. But I really disliked google docs, the templates are a joke, nothing looks professional. Also it is very annoying working in the cloud with data loading. 

 

See how it plays out, but I could see MSFT keeping corporate users and non professionals using google docs for basic documents.

Posted

There's a market for both.

 

I'm the exact opposite; I find Office painful to use, bloated, expensive, etc, while Google Docs just does what I need and all my stuff is available from any computer or device instantly, easy to share and collaborate with others, etc. I always have a browser open, so I can access any document in about a second, which is better than launching a new software app that probably takes half a gig of RAM just to write a letter..

 

From a business perspective, one thing to consider is that almost all Google Docs users will be former MS Office customers, while most Office 365 customers will be former MS Office customers. Office software is quite mature, and I have little doubt that in a few years Google Apps will be where MS is now when it comes to functionality, while MS stuff will still pretty much be where it is now because new features for Office stuff are few and far in between. I've explained in another thread what I think about the disappearance of the lock in features that created such a network effect for MS..

 

Anyway, it'll be interesting to watch this develop.

  • 1 month later...
Posted

Google docs will soon be able to be used/update offline. Not being able to work on documents offline was the main drawback of Google docs. The only catch is offline mode will only be a plugin for the Chrome browser.

Posted

I'm long MSFT so this is biased. But I really disliked google docs, the templates are a joke, nothing looks professional. Also it is very annoying working in the cloud with data loading. 

 

See how it plays out, but I could see MSFT keeping corporate users and non professionals using google docs for basic documents.

 

Totally agree.  There is alot that Google Docs still can't do.  It may be fine for students, non-business users, etc.  But the software does not have the capabilites for business users.

 

Google docs will soon be able to be used/update offline. Not being able to work on documents offline was the main drawback of Google docs. The only catch is offline mode will only be a plugin for the Chrome browser.

 

Yeah, the problem is that it will only work if you use Chrome.  And there was something else that was silly...I believe you have to toggle between two platforms or something to be able to use it offline, if you were already using it online.  You do not have to do that when using 365, which is probably what I'll switch to when the next Office versions are released.  Cheers!

Posted

I was working on an a paper in Open Office the other day when my laptop broke down permanently. So from here on it's Google Docs all the wa :(  Not the first time that's happened but certainly the last...

Posted

I store all my Office doc's on Dropbox (in the cloud) alsomy excel work sheets and can work on them at home or the office and the latest bit of my work is available either place. 

Posted

I have a computer now with only Open Office installed so I have to use it and Google Docs.  Docs are one area where "feature rich" seems to be important.  Inevitably, importing Word docs into one of the free products, then saving as Word doc seems to screw up formatting for anything slightly complex, like footnotes. 

Posted

Inevitably, importing Word docs into one of the free products, then saving as Word doc seems to screw up formatting for anything slightly complex, like footnotes.

 

And it'll stay that way as long as Microsoft can manage to keep it that way.

Guest misterstockwell
Posted

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2392709,00.asp

 

Google on Friday blamed a recent Google Docs outage on a real-time collaboration update that exposed a glitch in its system.

 

Google Docs was inaccessible for about an hour on Wednesday afternoon, meaning users could not view or edit document lists, documents, drawings, or Apps Scripts.

 

Posted

I have been using MS Office suites since the very early days - 3.0 is where I started and I am no techie.  This was a switch from Lotus 1,2,3 and others.  I have never had any major issues with Office per-se.  I have had laptops and desktops crash all the while, but that's not an issue related to office. No data was ever lost - only about 3 months of work related emails due to some issues with back-up process at work at the time. (In fact, my wife was recently amazed/shocked when she found my personal budget worksheets from over 10 years ago).  My back-up process is virtually copied from grandfather-father-son form and it has worked fine for the last decade or so, despite having moved across the globe 3 times.  Only change I have added on top of that is now I have another back-up in a different location.  So much for bragging rights.

 

Google docs just puts everything online.  I used to use yahoo briefcase to save really critical files in encrypted zip format and google docs to me is just a step-up from there.  I love the collaborative editing features and generally, the editing features.  I have been meaning to try office 365; just haven't had the time to do so.

 

I will believe Google Docs' superiority , for instance, when vendors that use Reuters and Bloomberg data and decide to put them in "google docs" format.  Right now, docs is something that is in fashion vs. utility.

  • 4 weeks later...

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