The anchor that MSFT still has is EXCEL... I use Google docs quite a bit, but where it's really lacking is in robust spreadsheet functions -- and MSFT has a HUGE library and userbase of EXCEL functions that aren't going away and are very hard to replicate.
Word processing is an easy switch compared to trying to switch spreadsheet apps...
Factor in the youth who are likely to be a larger audience, and Google won't have to worry much about those who are "old fashioned" or got used to the concept of ablative document.
That's true, for me, of some kinds of documents, Brian - and I certainly want to know there's a copy of important documents on my hard drive - but for ad hoc, collaborative documents, of no great sensitivity or lasting significance, Google Docs is an easy solution.
I agree Google Docs has collaboration benefits, but old-fashioned maybe, and always, probably, but I want my programs to run natively on my machines without a network.
I think Microsoft counts on that and lives off that. That's a huge mindset that would have to overcome before Google's threat becomes serious. Or, it will simply happen over time, but it will be a slow burn.
KMT568 - Agreed, Microsoft has huge brand loyalty.
One trick that Microsoft uses that's excellent for collaboration: If you email someone an attachment with Outlook.com, the attachment doesn't get sent. Rather, it's uploaded to SkyDrive and the link to the updated document is sent.
You make a great point about the ease to collaborate through google docs. It is cumbersome to email a word file back and forth. However, I think Microsoft could compete of they came up with a user-friendly way for users to share.
On another note, I think that the Microsoft brand will remain loyal customers so might take a long time for Microsoft to lose its prominence in the market.
Yes, Google Docs excels for collaboration. The alternative is emailing Word docs back and forth, which gets pretty cumbersome, particularly when two or more people are making simultaneous changes.
Regulatory, privacy, and other legal concerns are something enterprises need to watch out for when using Google Docs for business.
Also, disaster recovery: If Google goes down, how does the company keep functioning? Although at this point it seems more likely that an enterprise will go down than Google.
I think you're right to highlight this opportunity for Google, Talha.
Something which I've witnessed is ad hoc uptake of Google Docs by individual employees, rather than enterprise-driven adoption. It's a no brainer tool for collaborative working.
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