Do customers really want to take their spreadsheets, documents and other office items onto the web? Google (NASDAQ: GOOG)'s Docs & Spreadsheets think so, and it's been written about extensively here in the past. Still, customers are paying hand over fist for Microsoft's Office package, which tells the market that there are two things happening.
1) Customers (mostly business) want their office applications local on a PC or server, not on a website hosted by Google.
2) Google's marketing has not aggressively gone after existing Microsoft Office customers. Personally, I use Microsoft Office every day since there are times when I work when not connected to the internet. Therein lies a big problem for some of Google's services: an internet connection is required for everything.
Still, is Microsoft planning on offering a version of Office that is hosted on its servers and possibly subsidized by advertising? Do users really prefer to see ads next to personal financial records, school research papers and business presentations? I'm not convinced, and there are certain computer records most Microsoft Office customers want and need to keep private without being distracted by advertising. So sure, Microsoft could have its Office suite available over the web in what is known as "software as a service" fashion, but giving it away free only to make money on bundled advertising inside Excel, Word, Outlook and PowerPoint? I'm not so sure customers will go for that.
2) Google's marketing has not aggressively gone after existing Microsoft Office customers. Personally, I use Microsoft Office every day since there are times when I work when not connected to the internet. Therein lies a big problem for some of Google's services: an internet connection is required for everything.
Still, is Microsoft planning on offering a version of Office that is hosted on its servers and possibly subsidized by advertising? Do users really prefer to see ads next to personal financial records, school research papers and business presentations? I'm not convinced, and there are certain computer records most Microsoft Office customers want and need to keep private without being distracted by advertising. So sure, Microsoft could have its Office suite available over the web in what is known as "software as a service" fashion, but giving it away free only to make money on bundled advertising inside Excel, Word, Outlook and PowerPoint? I'm not so sure customers will go for that.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
7-12-2007 @ 3:50PM
mattydread said...
Coincidentally, the newest version of Office is able to save it's files in an XML-similar format which should be compatable with web browsers. Hmmm....