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Curt
Moderator
USA
6652 Posts
Status: offline |
 Posted - 06/06/2012 : 10:25:33 AM
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http://www.zdnet.com/blog/microsoft/its-war-google-quickoffice-vs-microsoft-office-everywhere/12851?tag=nl.e064
Once Again the advertising company Google has purchased a package called Quick office to counter Microsoft office .
Frankly, why go with a question mark when you know that Office will be compatible with the rest of the MSFT Stack.
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Curt Spanburgh
Microsoft Certified Business Solution Specialist.
Dynamics CRM MVP
Contributing Editor, Windows IT Pro
He that is walking with wise persons will become wise, but he that is having dealings with the stupid ones will fare badly.
Proverbs 13:20
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aed
Honorable But Hopeless Addict
USA
1213 Posts
Status: offline |
Posted - 06/06/2012 : 4:22:56 PM
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| Does Microsoft have a current offering for the mobile market? If not, when and at what price will they be coming in? More and more people will be wanting to do editing on a phone or tablet. |
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Curt
Moderator
USA
6652 Posts
Status: offline |
Posted - 06/06/2012 : 5:07:14 PM
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Yes, they do and it's mentioned in the article.
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Curt Spanburgh
Microsoft Certified Business Solution Specialist.
Dynamics CRM MVP
Contributing Editor, Windows IT Pro
He that is walking with wise persons will become wise, but he that is having dealings with the stupid ones will fare badly.
Proverbs 13:20
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aed
Honorable But Hopeless Addict
USA
1213 Posts
Status: offline |
Posted - 06/06/2012 : 5:14:35 PM
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| SO nothing current, but something is coming but we don't know what pricing will be for existing devices nor do we know the feature set. That is at least 6 months off and if pricing is too high, most consumers will still look for other products. |
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anthony
Moderator
USA
2373 Posts
Status: offline |
Posted - 06/13/2012 : 11:26:49 AM
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Curt,
I think you are missing the point.
First off, to call Google an advertizing company, is like calling Microsoft a hardware company. It is only a portion of the business.
Google's view has always been that the local application stack is irrelevant - along with the OS. They think you should be able to do ANYTHING from a browser (preferably chrome - but mostly any browser). If this purchase allows them to cull over some office users, or to get users to buy an Android tablet over something else, then mission accomplished. Period.
If you use Google apps, it does not matter if you have office right? You can open a Google apps document right from a browser. That's the end game. Cloud based everything.
The truth is, 99% of Word, Excel, PowerPoint users cold do what they need in a Google Doc. Now they even have Databases in Google Docs (Tables beta). It's becoming a pretty mature product and it's catching Office very quickly in these days of "good enough" technology. When you look at the $50 per user pricing, and all you get for that it's quite a bargain compared to Exchange/Office/Office365.
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Curt
Moderator
USA
6652 Posts
Status: offline |
Posted - 06/13/2012 : 11:49:17 AM
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I've seen many "Bundled" desktops with only Microsoft Office installed.
And I can see why. Often those desktops are replacements for "Dumb Terminals" as we used to call the workstations of a AS/400 system.
And so it is with many web applications. They are replacements for what was before.
TO be sure, you have a great deal better apps than google docs in a browser.
But there are land base, lunar orbiter, lunar lander issues.
Since I've dealt with machines thousands of miles apart from the AS/400 days, I see clearly how a problem is being reinvented.
The "Cloud" is still at the Windows 95 stage. All business decision makers who venture into it must except the business risk, just like buying a Stock. There are limitations. Take an average cell phone out of the country and what are your options?
Take an air card from Florida to the Bahamas and what happens?
It's the same thing. Progress yes, but if users are that simple then this "Personal Productivity Suite" is only for limited Productivity and tends to keep them there.
I on the other hand really benefited from all the features that I could cull out of the soil of the Microsoft office packages and other workstation based applications even before Microsoft had offerings in those areas.
People will say, well Curt, your were different. You used EDLIN, Lotus 123, Dbase III Plus, Word Perfect, Boland Turbo C, etc.
Well, yes it allowed me to bring value to where ever I worked.
I have used limited software in the past and tried the "alternatives" to Microsoft in the past too. They are in a word "OK". And some Microsft Freebies are fine. But I do think that the age of computing was intended for the individual to grow their minds and talents and to extend the amount of thinks they could achieve by the use of the technology.
I don't want a guitar that I can just play chords on. No shackles please.
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Curt Spanburgh
Microsoft Certified Business Solution Specialist.
Dynamics CRM MVP
Contributing Editor, Windows IT Pro
He that is walking with wise persons will become wise, but he that is having dealings with the stupid ones will fare badly.
Proverbs 13:20
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Edited by - Curt on 06/13/2012 11:53:43 AM |
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anthony
Moderator
USA
2373 Posts
Status: offline |
Posted - 06/13/2012 : 1:12:37 PM
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I think that what you are saying has some valid points. But what I think Google brings to the table (and many other cloud vendors) is they provide a "platform" and you are free to build upon it - without all the headaches of the upfront costs of buying the infrastructure. For a 1000 user company that has been in business for 25 years, there is not much to do in order to get that "platform" up and running because it's already there. The benefits of the cloud are less in that scenario - you are not going to just throw that all away if you outsource your email.
But if I'm starting a NEW company today, and I plan on having 100 employees within the first 5 years. I'm going to seriously need to consider the cloud. I've got the "base" platform there (email, spreadsheets, word processing, etc.). Now I can spend my time integrating that platform with my CRM, or other LOB app. In many cases, if you visit Google's "App" Marketplace, somebody has already created an app that does what you need AND ALREADY ADDED THE INTEGRATION. Not to beat on MS, but if I want my Microsoft system to do any integration with my other applications, I gotta pay somebody like you big bucks to come out and integrate them, or add that customization.
I still might have to pay somebody to do some integration work on the Google Apps side, but I am STARTING there. I don't need to build that infrastructure THEN pay you to come out and integrate them. This is where the cloud saves you money.
As a bonus, I have a platform that can be accessed from almost any device I want to access it with too. From anywhere I have internet. If I want to hire a guy in Omaha, I give him login credentials, and send him on his way. I don't need VPN, Citrix, Terminal Server, VDI, etc. He can use his own PC. More savings.
So we can all talk about how crazy it might be for a company NOT to consider the Microsoft stack - but it is happening more and more. When I had my company, I saw it every day. Microsoft themselves are partly to blame because people generally take the path of least resistance. If you decide to go Microsoft, plan on resistance from almost every direction. The web of licensing legality. High initial costs. Specifying hardware. Buying hardware. replacing hardware. Hiring Joe Consultant to install and maintain it all. It all adds up to a mountain that today's new business starters are in many cases not willing to climb, or cannot afford to climb. They just take that path of least resistance. Guess what? Once I start down that path, the idea of installing a server becomes more and more ludicrous as time passes. To move BACK into that direction is still not AND WILL NEVER BE the path of least resistance.
In my opinion, Google getting these new businesses from the beginning is a great idea. Because if "Joe Consultant" knocks on my door selling his solution where I have to start installing all that stuff in my back office, I'm going to grin at him and send him on his way. Thanks but, no thanks pal.
So circling all the way back to Google's recent purchase - it all goes back to getting somebody to just "try" their "Google Apps" offering. If that software makes that initial trial cheaper and more convenient than Microsoft's then mission accomplished right? Maybe they try it on their Gmail account, then see a link to do Google Apps for their business too. It's all to drive them to the Apps stack.
So, why go with a question mark? To folks who know nothing about computers, EVERYTHING about I.T. is a question mark. They take the path of least resistance. |
Edited by - anthony on 06/13/2012 1:14:07 PM |
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Curt
Moderator
USA
6652 Posts
Status: offline |
Posted - 06/13/2012 : 1:58:22 PM
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I too recommend the lowest cost options for startups.
After all , I don't have or need exchange for my own business.
Oddly, it's the very large company that wants to go to the cloud.
They seem to have the most workers that are static in their skills.
So sure,start out with something easy for sake of cost.
Anyone owning a business in these times has to be concerned about every cent. I do believe we are going to find ourselves in the same spot on the cycle as we did before. So , we chose the pain we will put up with for now.
Let's take some real world examples. Virtualization. Great Idea.
We start to deploy Virtual servers in data centers. Now how do we manage them. At the time there were few if ANY tools. There was lots of pain when a VM would not start or someone did not have a backup of the virtual machine. It has taken some time for us to improve on that. In my case , that has been 12 long years.
I talked the clients into doing it in the first place. Now I had to make it work. If a consulting company or vendor gets a business to take a route with risk, we could be like a bank or a brokerage house and say,"We warned you of the risk" but with software it's a bit different.
MSFT also has there issues. We are Still getting different webapp applications to work with one another. There is no "Cheap".
Just a moving of pain and cost from one place to another.
Yet , many of us can attest to seeing very stable environments that have been used for years without many problems. So much so that a CEO comes in to the IT manager and ask how the "SERVER" is doing.
He has know Idea that there is an entire forest of servers on a large airconditioned room in his building. Why? Everything is working and Stable. Microsoft servers running on VMs.
The Big issues now for management?
Intelligence.
Where were we.
Where are we.
Where are we going.
Where can we go.
How do we get there.
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Curt Spanburgh
Microsoft Certified Business Solution Specialist.
Dynamics CRM MVP
Contributing Editor, Windows IT Pro
He that is walking with wise persons will become wise, but he that is having dealings with the stupid ones will fare badly.
Proverbs 13:20
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Another Pro Google article about Quick office.
