Special Report
Desktop Apps: Time For Change
Google is challenging the status quo in desktop productivity apps, rewriting Google Apps to bet it all on cloud-based software and real-time collaboration. Microsoft Office dominates this world, and our exclusive research shows that users don't much mind that -- they like Office. Google knows people will use Apps alongside Office. The company is betting that it can deliver a simple, effective, online-only (it's dropping offline access) tool that provides realtime collaboration, and Google will steadily guide users toward its less-is-more cloud software. Microsoft, meanwhile, will soon roll out its new version of Office, including cloud-based versions and an online-offline combination.
Google's strategy marks a huge bet on real-time collaboration and online-only software.
Critical Thinking
Global CIO: Steve Ballmer Interview: 'Hockey Stick' Cloud Growth Ahead
Microsoft CEO talks about new competition with Google, Amazon, and Salesforce, and why CIOs now are ready for cloud computing.
Google Apps Refresh Sets Up Deathmatch With Microsoft
The battle for the collaborative backbone behind Google Apps versus Microsoft's SharePoint and Exchange is on, and Google is going for Microsoft's jugular.
How Do Google, Microsoft Clouds Stack Up?
We weigh reality against rhetoric as Microsoft looks to dissuade customers from experimenting with, let alone adopting, Google Apps.
Microsoft Plans To Beat Google In The Cloud
It will keep packaging a mix of apps to meet companies collaboration demands.
Down To Business: Google Changes Rules Of Productivity Race
Technology vendors have focused on collaboration as the next productivity revolution. Have they been going about it all wrong?
What Genentech CIO Likes About Google Docs
It meets a need for quick-and-easy collaboration, says CIO Todd Pierce. It's not for regulated content, though.
The Conversation With Gates And Ballmer That Sparked Microsoft's Cloud Strategy
Microsoft's march toward cloud computing is fascinating to watch. Next year, Microsoft will take the most successful desktop software package of all time Office and offer it online to businesses, somewhat similar to the Google Apps model.
Elsewhere on the Web
Last updated: Friday, April 2, 2010
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Google Groups Joins Google Apps In Battle For The Enterprise
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Microsoftt Sharepoint 2010 includes several new features, including its InfoPath forms designer, web versions of Office applications, a PowerPoint broadcast feature, and the integration of Visio workflows. Working with new content is much easier.
Microsoft's Sharepoint 2010 includes business intelligence capabilities. It ships with Performance Point Server, and using Sharepoint Dashboard Designer, users can pull in data, slice that data and present it in KPIs and scorecards.
GMicrosoft's Sharepoint 2010 shows a host of UI improvements, including the addition of the Office Ribbon, media manipulation and the ability to quickly edit items in Sites. Users can also change Site themes, and even import themes from PowerPoint.
Google Docs has been completely re-written, and while it's got some new word processing features, improved Word importing and commenting, Google's Jeff Harris shows Techweb's David Berlind its real-time collaboration capabilities and improved import.
Techweb's David Berlind gets a hands-on demonstration of Google's newly re-written spreadsheet app, with improved performance and increased productivity, including real-time collaboration.
Techweb's David Berlind discusses with Google engineer Micah Lemonik Google's rewrite of its entire application suite, diving into the change in Google's data model -- a change to provide the flexibility to allow real-time collaboration.
Techweb gets an inside look at how Google works. It is an engineering driven org, it is "young" with graduates of some of country's top schools. Its engineers are generalists without pre-conceived notions about how things are supposed to work.
Techweb got a behind-the-scenes look into the Google Usability Lab, where the company tests user feedback. Through cameras, two way mirrors and broadcasts that Google employees watch live, the company collects user feedback.
