Google Sites: Not a 'SharePoint Killer'

I have used the google apps, including the newest Sites offering, and while it is useful, I am certain that if I paid for high priced services from someone else, I could get even more useful features.

However, the google apps (standard) version I am using has thus far required no more investment than my time.

Is it possible that the definition of sharepoint killer may be defined by google-eyed loyalists may be on other keywords than features alone?

Low TCO is defined differently by a fortune 500 than a small business. Non profits will often have a healthy cashflow, but would appreciate being able to use such a system provided at no charge, I would think.

Just because something is not a killer of a microsoft product does not mean it is a useless vain attempt to break into the DMZ position of microsoft.

BTW, how much would sharepoint cost me to implement? I truly have no idea. 

@rtp

When talking of the technical persons they have a list of options to choose.We can find the alternatives for one technology or the other.We can judge out the best to use in terms of Usability, cost-effectiveness etc. But when talking of a mass they will choose from a brand and moreover a Tool of the brand which they are using for so long. And Google plays a major role here. The popularity has increased a lot. When most of the people(Leave the technical guys) are asked about a search engine they are using...I think most of will answer Google. And this is not the question of being loyal but a fact. Other products are nice and we are using sharepoint and continue doing the same...As far as collaboration is concerned different projects have their own tools other than share point, as in the case of Test Director. So according to the needs and the requirements we are using those. But still at marketing fronts others have to compete and have to take a lots of effort in order to increase the popularity of their products. The brands should be such that if anyone needs a product first he checks that of a particular organization and then search for the next.

@rtp: I must be dyslectic then, as my Lotus Notes client has several icons on its workspace labeled "... Team Room" which seems to be the preferred collaborative environment of this particular version of Lotus that the company I currently work for is running.

As for 'vastly improved Domino', it's not hard to improve something that is as flawed and broken as Lotus Domino has been for its first several iterations. You must work for IBM or some other affiliated corporation to launch such a sales pitch.

Google is really working to get the internet appliance going, too bad.

 I would never feel comfortable with my data (personal or company) being located on someone else's server.  It's one thing to have it backed up somewhere remote but to have a thin client for a an internet appliance and my files located elsewhere and possibly not be available when I need them is unacceptable.

Not all of Google turns to gold, for the most part it's free and people are willing to tolerate less than perfect for free.

Dave 

OK, first of all, hindsatya, I'm not sure why you are so loyal to Google, but it's borderline disturbing.  Do you really think Google can do no wrong?  That everything they attempt is pure gold?  Their public search engine might be the most popular one, but anyone who knows search technology can tell you it's definitely not the best; I'm not even sure it's in the top 5.  Their desktop search isn't the best either, despite being popular (I think it's pre-installed with Vista.)  There are better and more user-friendly personal homepages than iGoogle, better RSS/ATOM readers than Google Reader.  I'm yet to find a good user interface on any Google application.

As far as Google Sites, couldn't small companies just use the Zoho suite of applications?  OpenOffice.org?  The 'Portable Applications' suite that allows to take your applications (not just your documents) on a USB drive or certain mobile devices?  As far as competition to MS Office itself, Lotus Symphony is available for free, uses open document formats and runs on any OS.

Adamus, I'm not sure what you've been reading, but there's no such product as 'Lotus Teamroom'.  If you're referring to Lotus Quickr, it runs on the vastly improved Domino as well as J2EE.  If you're talking about Lotus Sametime Advanced, with persistent chat and team spaces, it will connect to products that happen to be running on Domino, but it's completely independent of it in terms of it's platform. Go to the Lotus Greenhouse site, which is a public sandbox...search for it with http://www.quintura.com or even ask.com and give Google a rest.

Coming soon is Lotus Bluehouse, a social software suite with low TCO that's great for small businesses.  Customize it with lots of different components found in Lotus Connections, plus Sametime chat, shared teamrooms, and all kinds of document sharing.

All these Lotus offerings can be integrated with a variety of MS apps, including Office products and Outlook, and they run on any OS (yes, including Mac OS X).

So as far as Google claiming to be the SharePoint killer, get in line.

I detect a slight dislike for Google in your writing. Heh.

It may not be a SharePoint killer (corporations that have SharePoint are often sufficiently Microsoftified to harbor an irrational fear of everything that is 'free' and 'open', so this type of app won't appeal to their sensibilities) but it may be a serious contender for Lotus Teamroom in corporate environments.

Granted, this is mostly due to the abhorrent piece of excrement that Lotus Teamroom is, as part of the equally abhorrent Lotus Domino package. Anything that is low-cost (as Lotus Domino already absorbs ridiculous percentages of a corporation's total IT budget) and relatively easy to use (Lotus being a prime example of a total lack of useability-awareness) will be very welcome in a company that has made the unforgivable error of succumbing to the marketing pitches of Lotus/IBM.

Google - The internet king. The master of everything on the net - the google wants it.The yahoo bid was a step of that process only.Now the share point killer.

I would also like to introduce Apps as killer of sharepoint. Now the users are accustomed to Google Products. The targets are the free users the popularity will increase the mid-business organization will welcome this as most of them dont use sharepoint as well. So this will be an accelerating factor in their business requirements. The cost -effective and most priority will be on team collaborations which are often costlier.The mid-business or the startups are lacking on this front. now they have got a solution. And in no time these business units will be eqipped with these Killer Apps.

I wonder why Google is so late? And why on many more issues?

The list is increasing day by day.The Orkut, Gmail , Database , OS , Cables ...and I am waiting for the day when they will launch the OFFICE version and in full fledge. The complete command over the desktop and web. Only one name to be heard "Google". And it is soon going to happen. They have a broad vision and they will acquire it soon . The internet will have one name "Google". They are on the way to get the whole market of internet. The users are gradually getting addicted to internet and I doubt that in coming days Internet and Google will have a synonymous relationship.Internet will mean Google and vice-versa.

Hey thanks for your comments. I think some will find this useful but it won't penetrate the enterprise. Based on what I've seen, I think this may be useful for students -- it's probably something I would have tested out when I was in college in order to collaborate with teachers/classmates (yes, I was that cool in college). Similar to Sharepoint (or $harepoint as you call it, haha) in order to get a premium version of Sites with more storage you have to pay for it. I agree it would be nice to see a good collaboration platform (although I'm leery of security pitfalls) I just don't think this is it. It may have actually had a better shot when it was just JotSpot. Anyway, the main thing that caught my eye about this was that it was brazenly branded a "Sharepoint Killer." Whether or not this is a good service for some people, perhaps people in your industry, it's definitely not in a position to knock out Sharepoint and won't be for a while, if at all, despite the Sharepoint pricetag.

But let me know what you think when you test it out. Careful for all the hypnotic Google paraphernalia.

Okay you don't like the world to get any more googled than it already is. Can't blame you.

But as a solutions designer for lots of non-profits and distributed association type org, I can tell you that a good collaboration platofrm would be a good thing. And $harePoint is just stupidly expensive for virtually everyone except the pinstripe crowd.

I will be checking Sites out and (holding my nose as I walk past all the silly google rubbish) hoping that there is a usable solution in there for my client base.

Thanks for alerting us to the newest GoogleBlitz....