The Google Office I'd Go For
Posted by Harry McCracken | Monday, October 03, 2005 10:00 PM PT
Google
rumor de jour: At a Tuesday press conference held in conjunction with Sun Microsystems, the company will announce some sort of partnership relating to bringing Sun's StarOffice suite to Google users. There
is a Google/Sun event Tuesday morning at the Computer History Museum here in the Bay Area--so we'll known soon enough what's going on. (It might have nothing whatsoever to do with office software.) But I'm writing this Monday night, so I need to engage in random speculation.
First of all, Google and StarOffice are, in some ways, an odd fit. Google is at its most admirably Google-esque when it marches its own drummer, delivering useful tools that are anything but clones of existing products. Examples: Gmail, Google Maps, Google Earth, and, oh yeah, the Google Search engine itself.
By contrast, StarOffice (and OpenOffice.org, its free open-source variant) are mostly about doing things very much like the competition--Microsoft Office, natch--but doing a lot more affordably. I'm not saying that they don't boast their fare share of innovation--from support for OpenDocument file formats to the
integrated PDF capabilities that Microsoft is still working on. But right now, what makes them such compelling Microsoft alternatives is the impressive degree to which they look and work like Microsoft's products. Almost by definition, the more mundane and predictable these suites get, the better chance they have of catching on with the masses. And with OpenOffice.org already free, Google can't change the game merely by dropping the price of office apps to zero.
A Google Office that was basically a rebadged StarOffice, then, would be awfully ho-hum. A
true Google Office is going to need to bring something new and useful to the table...probably a something (or multiple somethings) involving making information management easier and more effective. But what?
Google's answers to that question, should it choose to address it, would matter more than mine ever could, but herewith a few thoughts.
I'd love to see a Google Office that boasted...
...seamless Web storage. Google gives every Gmail user 2 gigs and up of free space on the Web. Why not make that into a brain-dead-simple document repository, by tweaking StarOffice's open and save file dialogs to transparently store documents online, maybe as the default?
...great built-in search. Right now, the Google Desktop search utility needs a plug-in to search StarOffice documents at all. But I could see an office suite that builds search into its very soul, putting documents at your fingertips and making it truly simple to find clip art and other items.
...integration with other Google tools. Howsabout turning Google Talk into a collaborative file sharing environment, or getting the Picasa image organizer talking to StarOffice's Impress presentation app?
...a truly better user interface. Like I said, StarOffice and OpenOffice.org are succeeding by mimicking a Microsoftian UI at the moment. And it's Microsoft itself that's trying to figure out what's next, with Office 12's
intriguing-but-unproven makeover. But Gmail was a revelation, so I'd love to see Google's take on look-and-feel for word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, and beyond.
...true browser-based operation. If Google announces a full-blown browser-based suite tomorrow, my jaw will drop, in part because StarOffice, for all its virtues, is an extremely thick, traditional desktop program. But with companies like
37Signals making huge strides in implementing Office-like tools within the browser environment, I think it'll only a matter of time until someone launches a reasonable well-rounded, purely browser-based suite...and that someone might be Google. But not this week, I'm guessing. (I'd be delighted to be proven wrong.)
So what sort of Google Office would
you like to see?
I think that your idea for an entirely web-based office suite is a great idea. I know there have been many time when I have been on a computer that I didn't own, say at a friends house or at the library, and they did not have the copy of Word XP that I am accustomed to using. It would be so much easier to have a web based version at say office.google.com or productive.google.com that I could log into and have my personalized settings saved. Also, a way to use this incase for some reason I did not have internet access would be nice too. Say a cached version on my harddrive.
I think it's a pretty good possibility, actually. When I think of a Sun-Google colaboration, one thing comes to mind: Java. I would love to see a purely Java-in-browser office suite, perhaps paired with integrated web storage in StarOffice (and hopefully OpenOffice), both designed to interoperate. It'd be a good fit for both companies. For Google, it's a web-service with all the advantages listed in the article. For Sun, it's what StarOffice was originally designed to be - an expansion of their Java platform, and a way to weaken the stickiness that Office gives the MS platform. The flexibility could draw in users of MS Office who are away from the office, letting them try it without installing another office suite, and maybe even learning to trust it enough to skip the investment in Office 12 and install the local version on their next or second computers.
I think that such a system is long overdue. Personally, my biggest gripe with MS Office is it's inability to successfully interchange information between each element of the office suite, (particularly images and tables). A area where google and sun could make a huge differentiation would be in amalgamating all suite elements into one highly customisable online application. Tying together google image search, picasa, google desktop , their new document archive etc, this could be the lynch pin spelling the demise of machine native and expensive apps supporting value add functionality.
As someone who uses Picasa and Gmail and loves Google?s ?label? approach, I?m surprised I haven?t heard more people talk/write about how useful it would be to apply Google labels to our documents, rather than foldering them. After all, who hasn?t been torn at one time or another on the best folder structure to create for their document files, or had trouble deciding which of two folders was a better fit for a particular document. I am waiting with baited breath for the day when I can apply any number of labels to my documents, not just my emails and photos, and finally do completely away with the limiting ?each file in only one place? design. After all, each file is not only one kind of file.
I also believe that a completely webbased office suite is long over due. There are about 5 or more different computers I work on on a regular basis and e-mailing files just isn't cutting it anymore. The also truely believe that the labeling approach with google power search is a much more effective way to organize/not have to organize my files. I already pretty much gave up on organizing my files and use google desktop to search everything. Can't wait to see what they come up with.
I hope it has nothing to do with Star Office and about how Google and Sun are going to give the entire world free internet access via WiFi.
I do not agree at all. I'll keep my notebook, loaded with all the apps I need, thank you. I do not require an internet connection to work (and play). When I have that connection, fine. But I will NEVER allow myself to be fully dependent on the network. Just look at what happened during 9/11 or any of the recent natural disasters. The networks were the first things to go down.
Vista is supposed to introduce virtual folders which are similar in concept to Google's labels, and there are plugins for GMail that allow you to use your GMail account's storage as a file store, (I haven't used either so I can't say how well they are implemented however).
That being said however all of the proposed "features" that the author espouses would add up to an Office Suite that would truly challenge Microsoft for the first time since Office 4.
Google is very innovative and I have no doubt that should Star Office and Word Perfect Office continue to struggle against MS Office, we will see Office type solutions provided by Google, and almost certainly for free.
my only gripe would be privacy....will google be advertising to me thru this web based office suite while i work my report? essentially keeping a track of my work. I think this (if it IS free) would be a great product for consumers who don't want to or can't pay for M$ Office - but big business bent keeping their information secretive would probably be hesitant in storing it on google's servers...
I'm hoping that it can export to the OpenDocument format, MS Word and (crossing fingers) PDF.
Don't forget about writely.com - I think they are looking to allow exports to the OpenDocument format also.
cheers,
- macewan
I would hope that Google basically makes a document storage service that's organized a lot like gmail and can maybe even edit the documents some. Then it would be nice to have an api for developers to write web or desktop applications to access the online document store, so you could use a desktop program to edit the documents, just like it's possible to use a conventional email program for gmail today.
An online document store would be a sweet idea, and I hope Google does it soon.
Simple:
1. Integrate Google Storage into Staroffice and you can choose to store files directly on google or have integrated replication, storing files on boht local and Google.
2. Use Oasis format, and then you can use both a local copy of StarOffice and use apps when needed to edit files online, all seamless because of Oasis format.
3. All integrated into a Google homepage with Gmail, Gtalk, etc.
4. Longterm - a WebOS on a CD or Thumbdrive and Google ISP service
Real simple, security, security, security. Google is a large company and is a great target for hackers. I like the idea of a fully intigrated online office software. There must be a double save option though, one online, and one to the hard-drive. There also must be and update/syncronize option where the file online takes presidence over any stored on the hard-drive. I would hate to try to sort a bunch of document named document1, document1_2 ect...
This is all really cool, but how does it get my dick into any more panties? THAT is a problem I would like to see Google conquer!
If this announcement does happen, then providing office applications, is the shortest and easiest (make that ONLY) way to make inroads into the MS Windows OS market leading to a fully blown Google-OS in the future, eating into a large slice of Microsoft's empire.
A new Google-OS, is a rumour that has been circulating quite a bit recently. But it was not so easy to see how this might happen.
This may be the missing key ...
Google are steadily becoming a global presence, with fingers in several pies....
StarOffice/OpenOffice.org is way out of league of the current MS offering moreso with new Office that MS is about to beta-ship on November.
However, with the backing of, another giant, an innovator that is Google, I am excited how StarOffice is going to be. With Google's search, GMail, Blogger, GTalk, Picasa, etc., and Sun's Java, StarOffice has a pretty future indeed.
The network is th ecomputer and the weak link will be the network. John Basinger (post above) has a point. But if goole storage is as good as they say it is that should not be a problem. Google should look at having server farms located in other countries.
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