Google and Microsoft are scrapping to get their office apps into the enterprise cloud
By Sharon Gaudin | 10.20.10 | ComputerWorld.com
Microsoft officially took its ubiquitous Office suite to the cloud this week with Office 365. And that, say industry watchers, is not good news for rival Google, which has been trying to capture the enterprise with its own offerings of cloud-based office apps.
“This is not a great day for Google,” said Dan Olds, an analyst with The Gabriel Consulting Group. “Microsoft, when it comes to office productivity applications, isn’t only an 800-pound gorilla, it’s a zoo worth of 800-pound gorillas. They are the standard.”
Last year, Google began a concerted effort to push its cloud-based Google Apps into the lucrative enterprise market, taking on Microsoft and its popular desktop applications.
With Microsoft slower to get to the cloud, Google had a head start. Dave Girouard, president of Google’s enterprise division, told Computerworld earlier this year that Microsoft was simply too far behind Google to catch up.