New Online Word

Microsoft has finally released Microsoft Office 2010 to the public this past week, which represents an incremental improvement to Redmond’s iconic business software. As I reviewed about a month ago, I found Outlook 2010 to be fantastic, and so far nothing has changed my opinion. Microsoft released an online version of Office 2010 in two flavors. One, which most people will ignore, is a version that can be run on the inside of a company’s intranet, sort of like bringing the “cloud” indoors. The other, which is where most of the press has been, is on the free online versions of Word, Powerpoint, OneNote (if you use OneNote please comment), and Excel. Microsoft is challenging Google docs at their own game.

Online Power Point

Google docs has been far less of a boon than all the techies predicted it would be. When it was released, you could hardly find a blog that did not predict the end of MS Office dominance in the business and education sectors. If you have been around long enough, it smelled a lot like all the predictions of a Linux desktop operating system taking over the home PC market…these ideas never came to fruition. Not with a practical Linux desktop nor a free online office-like program.

Excel Online

Why has google docs been a failure, and why is Microsoft bothering to challenge a failed idea? To put it bluntly, google docs is not very good. Its a bit difficult to navigate, the UI is uninspiring, and every time I want to edit a document that was not generated by me, I have to wait for the Google computers to convert it into a format Google can edit. What a pain! Additionally, there is a very good free office program called Open Office which will run on your PC and cut out the “cloud” middle man. If I had a zero dollar budget for an office progam, I would use Open Office and Windows 7 Mail. I would even still use Gmail to handle corporate email, using IMAP to synchronize my gmail to Windows Mail.

Google Word Processor

So whats the appeal of any online office program? Microsoft and Google may be ahead of my curmudgeoning ways. The appeal is probably to the education sector, where an Administrator could quickly release hundreds of low cost laptops with very low software overhead; having students use the “cloud” of online office and online storage. With fewer programs running on the computers themselves, the supportability becomes much easier. A student could simply trade in a defective one for a working one and be up and running in a matter of minutes.  

Google Spreadsheet

This fictional school administrator has two choices, Google Docs and Microsoft Office 2010 online. I dislike both of them because they are both a bit slow, with Microsoft edging over Google in the navigation department. As far as which one you should use; I can’t tell you. Microsoft will deliver a very familiar interface and is compatible with all Microsoft documents, including the 2007 “docx” standard. I am hard pressed to find a task Google will do better; for some though, not using a Microsoft product is reason enough.