michaelswanson.name

Recently, there has been a lot of talk lately about some so called “Google Office” product. This surprises me particularly because no such thing actually exists yet, nor ever has. I’ve worked with all of the software that commentators claim would be part of this phantom Google Office, were it to ever actually appear, and none of them compete with the full-fledged office suites offered either as FOSS or by companies like Microsoft. There are several reasons why at this point, I doubt that web-based AJAX-y tools are capable of even creating a dent in thick-client software for these types of uses for the foreseeable future. There are several reasons for this. First of all, businesses have already made a substantial investment not only in dollars, but in terms of training and familiarity. Secondly, most businesses will not be willing to rely on their internet connection for things so simple as word processing and spreadsheets. These are often the fall back job functions that employees use in times when their internet fails for some reason. There is also the security concern inherent anytime you deal with using hosted services with what could theoretically be confidential business information. All of these reasons will probably combine to make businesses squeamish and unlikely to adopt this sort of hosted services for such simple processes as basic word processing and spreadsheets.

It is possible that individuals with less to lose in the event of lost network connectivity and confidential information will adopt these services to avoid paying the substantial price charged by the likes of Microsoft and to avoid having to support software installations on their home computers, but that probably won’t amount to a significant revenue stream for the companies providing the services, unless they can leverage the services for better advertising results.  I think the amount of innovation surrounding many of the services provided by Web 2.0 is exciting and worthy of admiration.  However, as with the original web boom in the late 90’s, it will take some time for all these ideas to mature into true business models.