Google and Microsoft to conquer your office

As most of you should know already, Google has just released Google Apps Premier Edition, which is a “premium” version of their Google Apps suite.

What you get? In a nutshell, 10GB instead of 2GB for your emails and documents, 99,9% of uptime for your email, access to API in order to integrate their suite into your business processes and dedicated support. All for 50$/year/user.

Might it be a threat for Microsoft? WebWorkerDaily has a comprehensive comparison between Google Apps Premier and Microsoft Office Live.

My opinion is NO. They’re different products for different targets.

Microsoft’s offering may be for you if:

You don’t already have a website for your business and want to get something for the world to see that’s quick and easy.
You and your co-workers are all using computers running some version of Windows.
You and your co-workers already own some version of Microsoft Office and are prepared to continue using Outlook, Word and Excel as the hub of your business communications and processes.
Your business is based on customers…attracting them, interacting with them, and keeping them.
You won’t always have access to the internet.

Google’s offering may be for you if:

You are more interested in having reliable tools for email and collaboration, than you are in having a new point-and-click website.
You and your co-workers are using a mix of different platforms, including Mac OS X.
You and your co-workers are comfortable using web-based tools for email, word processing or spreadsheets.
Your business is not entirely based on attracting and cultivating customers. Maybe you have a handful of accounts, but don’t need to track a lot of customer interactions. Maybe you’re a nonprofit organization, school or faith-based organization. Maybe you own a blog network. The possibilities are endless, and you don’t want to be confined to a standard business model.
You are always online.

Unfortunately Microsoft still dominates the office software’s market and it’s become a de-facto standard. I don’t think compatibility issues could be easily avoided from Google. If the whole world goes on using Microsoft Office, it won’t ever be easy.

Suites like OpenOffice or Apple iWork are affected by the same problems. Simple documents are not usually a problem, but if you try to manage complex documents with many objects like graphics, charts and so on, it could be painful.

BTW: I’ve just upgraded my Picasa Web account from 250MB to 6.25GB for 25$/year. If Google would have offered 10GB Gmail space for 25$ more, I would have bought it immediately.

Technorati Tags: gmail, google apps, luca filigheddu, picasa web