Tim Acheson's web site & blog

Where Microsoft leads, others often follow (notwithstanding Google’s superior PR)

There is a popular misconception that Microsoft’s Office Apps is copying Google Docs. This fallacy has been embraced, swallowed, and regurgitated by Google fanboys -- so widely in fact that it has become received wisdom online.

Of course, in reality Microsoft’s plan for an online version of Office was announced by Bill Gates in 2005. The Beta was previewed in February 2006. Presumably Google did not want to be left behind, but it would have taken time to develop their own product to compete with Microsoft. In March 2006 they purchased a third-party product, and repackaged it as Google Docs which was released in October that year. (See above for more details of the timeline.)

Don't forget, MS Office's webmail client, Outlook Web Access, dates back to the year 2000 and that year's release of the Exchange mailserver platform.

I've been very impressed by Office Web Applications. I can see why it's getting good feedback from participants in this technical preview. Wow! Not bad for a version zero produc, eh!

It looks and feels more polished and commercial than Google Docs and it's very similar to the real Office software. It's fast and very responsive. It works on almost any platform. I can now display a PowerPoint presentation on my oldest Sony Ericsson mobile phone!

Office Web Apps works find without SIlverlight, though with SIlverlight the user experience is greatly enhanced, e.g. by extremely high-quality images and rendering, and an extremely fast multiple file upload feature based on Office Live Workspace.

I've been monitoring the response to MS Office Web Apps with great interest. While reading one fairly subjective comparason of MS Office Apps with Google Docs by a blogger on ZDNet, I noticed that he inadvertently highlighted one an important issue.

"...cloud-based word processing, spreadsheet, and presentation software has been hampered among a sizable chunk of users by the perception that they need Microsoft Office on their desktops (no matter how small a fraction of its functionality they use)."

1. When decision-makers insist they know what their users need and want better than the users themselves, it's arrogant, patronising -- but more importantly it can lead to bad decisions.

Many commentators who leap enthusiastically onto the Cloud or Google Apps bandwagon seem willing to accept any explanation for the fact that many users like to use desktop software – except for the most obvious reason. We must accept that many users do prefer desktop software, and respect their reasons even if they can't articulate them.

Let’s not over-simplify this to a question of features. There are many issues here, e.g. the security concerns in the Cloud, familiar or trusted brand, user experience, performance/speed, design and colours, etc.

[Continued in the next comment...]

2. Many organisations spend much more than they need to on MS Office.

It's considered the norm at many companies I've encountered for every user to have the same edition of MS Office installed -- typically Professional edition -- even where there is no official common desktop environment. Yet for many users the Standard edition would suffice. Some users don't even need the whole MS Office suite. A stand-alone installation of MS Word would often do. The price difference between MS Office editions is significant, and the money wasted in this way is multiplied by the number of users. The one-size-fits-all approach is just bad, lazy IT policy. It's all too easy at a big company where it's somebody else's money you're spending.

I suspect this is what really went wrong within this ZDNet blogger's organisation. He openly asserts that his users were only using a "fraction" of the features of the software installed on their PCs. Who was responsible for allowing this to happen? Adopting MS Office Web Apps may look like an easy escape-route, but it can't cover-up a track-record of bad IT management.

I disagree with many of the assumptions and conclusions in the blog post in question, although I do agree that the polished, professional user experience with MS Office Web Apps is a strong advantage:-

"...the utterly polished presentation of Web Apps, even in very early beta, means that Google can hardly rest on its laurels in this space."

Update: Microsoft to launch FREE version of MS Office

The new MS Office "Starter" edition will be free, and will be pre-installed on many new PCs, just as MS Works was historically.

And the tradition of loading crapware on systems continues.....

Hi Robert, can you explain what you mean and support your opinion with some facts? Based on years of experience of reading anti-MS comments like this, I suspect you can't.

Anybody can start using MS Office Web Apps, right now! Web-based MS Office, and it's FREE! To activate MS Office Web Apps just download Office 2010 Beta, and save a file to SkyDrive.

Breaking news: Facebook launches web-based MS Office for its users!

I wonder why Microsoft haven't just opened up the new web-based system so you can login and dive straight in to creating your first document? Seems odd to put up the barriers of downloading and installing a desktop product first.

Hi Andy, I noticed you've already joined Docs.com -- nice one! ;) Good question, and I wondered the same thing myself.

Regarding Microsoft Docs, there's no desktop software required for Docs.com. There's a "New Document" option, but at present you need to be an official Beta tester to use that (which requires an invitation code). They're expanding the number of participants as the Beta progresses. Eventually We'll all be able to just sign-in and do what we want.

On the Docs.com homepage, above the button you click to sign-up, it says:-

"While Docs is in Beta, we're gradually allowing people to create and upload their own documents. Join our wait list and we’ll notify you when these features become available to you. "

Regarding MS Office Web Apps, currently available through MS Office 2010 Beta and SkyDrive, my conclusion is that it's in Beta and not all features are available to everyone yet, so there's more to come. I'm already using it to view and edit my spreadsheets, documents and slideshows online through my regular web browser, and I love it!

I wrote a quick blog post on the new Docs web app just the other day, when it was launched.

Breaking news: Office web apps now live on SkyDrive!

http://office.live.com

A useful video on MIcrosoft Showcase: An overview of MS Office Web Apps

Update: worth noting that MS Office (starter edition) is now available to download from the MS Store for free!