Microsoft, the leader in office productivity software, probably laughed at Google when they released Google Docs. Google’s office productivity “solution” lacked a ton of features, it only worked when connected to the internet, and it wasn’t compatible with DOC files.
Oh how times have changed. Small businesses these days prefer using Google Docs because of the collaboration features, not to mention the price tag. It’s something like $50 per year per user, versus Microsoft Office, which is upwards of $500 depending on which apps you get, and then you have to factor in the added cost of hiring an IT team to manage the installations. Which brings me of Office 365, which can best be described as Microsoft’s Google Docs clone. You don’t get all the features of full blown Office, but you get enough, and there’s also full compatibility with what’s arguably the most deployed office suite out there. Microsoft recently published a blog post saying what they plan on doing with Office 365 over the next “year and beyond”, and one of their goals is to make it compatible with Android tablets. Specifically they want to let Android tablet owners view and edit documents using Office 365 as easily and as smoothly as someone using a Windows PC does today. Curiously, there’s no date as to when this will actually happen. Could be next month, could be next year, the world will simply have to wait.
