Google formally declares war on Microsoft

Don't know if this really qualifies as a security issue but it could be I suppose...

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GOOGLE HAS confirmed that it will launch free spreadsheet and word-processing software online and take on Microsoft in one of its biggest markets.

Under the deal, Google will allow web users to access Sun's OpenOffice from a toolbar.

The other day, when Sun's Scott McNealy and his former employee now Google chief Eric Schmidt met up, Sun was wary about doing that.

When asked point blank, McNealy said it was something to be investigated. However Sun's Australian spokesman Paul O'Connor was a little more forthright about the deal which he said was "huge".

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http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=26734
Google formally declares war on Microsoft

I use StarOffice on the laptop. It rocks, as far as I'm concerned. I have no need of the MS Office bloatware on that system.

Google taking on Microsoft? That's probably one company that has the moxie to do it.

/me ... polishing armor and sharpening blades

"I love the smell of napalm in the morning!"
Apocalypse Now

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"Anything free is a win for consumers" said ZDNET Australia technology analyst Fran Foo

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Is it really going to be free?
Or is your StarOffice Doc going to be in a Google Mail folder getting getting picked over for juicy keywords for adservers.
Is Google going to retain a copy of all your docs/ keylog everything you type in.

Maybe not but you don't get anything for free really.

I wouldn't call it a war yet... They're just gonne add a few buttons and a toolbar... I don't see any scary bites towards microsoft just yet.

Also corporations pay for support and stuff. Home-users using ms office isn't that big an income for microsoft I believe.

The point is Microsoft Office stills rocks, no other office suite matches
its features and ofcourse the price, but i wish google best of luck and would like
to see an office suite better than that of Microsoft.

Intriguing news. If Google can get corporate users to switch, you'll probably see a lot of home users switch too.

I doubt very much that corporate users will switch, Wolfie. But, if home users find that OpenOffice or StarOffice work as well and can read and save MS Office files, that will go a long way toward opening the market up.

Gates, some time back, said that competition was still alive. Just don't try to create another wordprocessor or spreadsheet. Do other things. He didn't think you could compete with Word/Excel/Office. Granted, MS has "useabilitied" the Office apps into what they are today, and you have to admire the effort to make them useable and integrated. But, I started with PerfectWriter and WordStar (CP/M), then moved to WordPerfect. The transition to Word in the early 90's was a very painful process.

I, for one, like to see things open up a bit. And, I like leaner, more nimble applications.

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Originally posted here by warl0ck7
no other office suite matches its features and of course the price

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What do you mean 'of course the price'?!?!? Of course, the price is obscene? You know how many people I've known, personally, who have gone and bought a COTS version of Office for personal use? ZERO

From CDW.com:
Microsoft Office 2003 Professional $469.00
Microsoft Office 2003 Standard $369.40
Microsoft Office 2003 Professional version upgrade $319.95

I would wager that MS Office is, not considering OSes, the single most pirated suite of software, worldwide. Microsoft couldn't care less about this, unless they see it impacting their commercial sales, which is probably where ALL of their Office revenue comes from, the commercial/gov't sector.

As for "MS Office still rocks"... *shrug* we all have our opinions. I think it's bloatware myself.

I only like microsoft excel, and that i don't use directly. It's nice for whipping up a script to pull data from a db, slap it in an excel file or excel formatted xml, and tossing off to a bunch of business monkeys.

Word blows goats, access is the devil, powerpoint is for business monkeys.

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Originally posted here by Juridian
I only like microsoft excel, and that i don't use directly. It's nice for whipping up a script to pull data from a db, slap it in an excel file or excel formatted xml, and tossing off to a bunch of business monkeys.

Word blows goats, access is the devil, powerpoint is for business monkeys.

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Tell us how you really feel Juridian. Please, no holding back. "Access is the Devil." Come now, even The Devil has STANDARDS!

I'm unfortunately forced into using them, since our digital certificates are all IE based, and thus plug nicely into absolutely nothing, but work moderately less offensively with Office app's, without serious difficulty and moderate derision from the helpdesk.

But I'm just as likely to whip out some text in Vi[m] than Word. And one more Paperclip animation and I go postal! I actually enjoyed the little Einstein-esque "Genius" guy, and of course, what does MS do but go and drop him from the lineup of helper crap-ticons. :fu:

I wouldn't hate them soo much if I didn't had to deal with people wanting to use access to interface with production sql machines, and if word didn't corrupt soo many documents losing hours of work. =p

Does anyone else here use OpenOffice? The current version (1.1.5) is pretty good for what I use it for. (Which is writing papers and stuff for college.) Version 2.0 seems to make some nice GUI changes in both ease of use and looks.

I downloaded StarOffice trial not a week ago to see if it was better than OpenOffice, but it seemed almost identical (probably because OO is based on SO, or vice versa) so I decided to stick with OO.

Can anyone who uses OO more extensively give their opinion on it?

- Xierox

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Originally posted here by neel
I wouldn't call it a war yet... They're just gonne add a few buttons and a toolbar... I don't see any scary bites towards microsoft just yet.

Also corporations pay for support and stuff. Home-users using ms office isn't that big an income for microsoft I believe.

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Well, I'm not sure of the difference of profit between the standard and professional version, but I do know all together MS Office makes microsoft some 6 billion annually...

If you need a little more than just something to write some scribbles down, MS Ofiice is the only option. OpenOffice doesn't even come close to what Word or Excel can do (and those who say otherwise have never looked any farther than writing some scribbles down). For a "normal" user, Office (and OpenOffice, for that matter) is overkill: nobody needs all that stuff. For professional users, it's the only option.

Powerpoint is just plain annoying, and Access sucks :)

I personally like word, but it's the only thing I ever used really. I use outlook alot because of the exchange thing (public folder/contacts list etc. or whats that) and I have alot of stuff to do in that. I don't know of another email client wich has that stuff, didn't really look into it either. Powerpoint isn't my favorite thing to work with, but it works and everybody has it and can work with it (if you work in groups). I also use visio occasionally, but I don't know if that's part of office... All other stuff (access, excel, frontpage, etc.), I never really used.

In my case the reason I use ms office is because I have it (legally) and everyone I work with has it and it works. I'm quite proficient using it and I doubt other products like openoffice etc. will seriously speed up my work. Even if openoffice is better I don't think it'll be a huge difference. The pricetag doesn't concern me because I didn't have to pay for ms office. Also I believe, like someone already said, most home-users just download the thing or get a lite version free with their computer.

Powerpoint has been extremely useful for me while giving presentations and speeches for school. Word and Powerpoint are essential for students IMHO. However if they can come up with open source software that can do the same thing as word and powerpoint, I'll switch...

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I wouldn't call it a war yet... They're just gonne add a few buttons and a toolbar... I don't see any scary bites towards microsoft just yet.

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[:)]

Its true

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From CDW.com:
Microsoft Office 2003 Professional $469.00
Microsoft Office 2003 Standard $369.40
Microsoft Office 2003 Professional version upgrade $319.95

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Yes these are both goog points...

But i think it has every oppurtunity of full blown success, i think we are on the dawn of a new era in terms of 'office' computing. Microsoft is slowly but surely being reckognised as a rip-off company with products that to be fair are good quality but are extremely over priced. As soon as people start getting the message, that they dont need to buy an all-in-one PC with print, scanner and a load of useless software (which don't be fooled will happen), other software companies, not necessarily google will be revelling in success. First of all though, the home users and small business need to pick up on it, then and only then will these sofftware apps will be taught in our schools, colleges and universities and ending eventually big business.

Microsoft is on the down, its blaitantly obvious, but the key thing is compatibility, u can take a word.doc to almost any PC and view it, with google is this going to be possible, no you say, but if its free online *downlaod*, hmmm..... with the right promotion......

Another aspect to consider, how cheap are good PC's these days!!! Technology is progressing like nobodies business. In a few years time, how much are you going to be willing to pay for a performance PC? Are you going to want to fork out a few hundred $/£ on a word processor?

I think the only hiccup could lie with the spreadsheet and powerpoint. The spreadsheet for many reasons, but mainly people being trained/fluent with its formulas etc etc And powerpoint, u make a presentation at home (in powerpoint) take it to a confrence, and guess what, they dont have internet connection to downlaod the proggy, but wait there, its FREE to download, i can save it to USB stick and install it on as many machines as i want!!! Result!!!

Every chance of success... Just give it a little more time... Just a little [:)]

Spose its the hackers way, free and open data for everyone, maybe

I use OpenOffice v2: it's a bit unstable (but then again, so is MS Office), but it's heaps faster than v1, and works much better. It's now actually better than MS office.