Google hits out at Office 365, Makes a Hash of it!

Mike Halsey MVP
Jun 27, 2011
Updated • Mar 19, 2015
Google
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Tomorrow Microsoft launch their new Office 365 business cloud platform integrating email, calendaring, office, sharepoint and intranets with communications and messaging.  It's a big platform with a big future ahead of it as I wrote about the other day.

Now Google are hitting out with a blog post entitled "365 reasons to consider Google Apps".  Now this article, which contains just four points, not 365 (to reassure all those people who never finished War and Peace), is singing the praises of Google's alternative.

They list that it's Designed for Teams, but Office 365 has collaboration built into it big time.  In fact it can easily be argued that teams is what Office 365 is all about.

microsoft vs google Google go on to say you can be Productive anywhere with their suite.  As it's a cloud-based offering though I'd hope for this as the very minimum.  They then say it's Simple and Affordable, and go on to say that pricing starts from only $5 a month, which is exactly what office 365 pricing starts at too.

Finally they talk about the Pure and Proven Cloud.  Google have a good reputation in this, but so do Microsoft and there's the small matter that Google Docs spent, well I lost count frankly, in beta before it was finally considered finished.  In fact all Google products live like this.

Despite the chastising I'm not being anti-Google here.  I believe that not only is there more than enough space in the worldwide cloud business productivity marketplace to support two different systems, but that it's absolutely essential that both compete with each other and do so aggressively.  After all, everybody remembers how Internet Explorer 6 languished unimproved for many years while malware took hold, simply because it didn't have any competition.

Competition is critical but Google have got to raise their game.  They even say at the end of their blog post "Ok, we didn’t get to all 365 reasons here today, but we hope we gave you some things to think about."  WHAT?!  I can think of a reason right here, it's available and working 365 days a year, why didn't they say that?

Suffice to say my argument here is that Google have tried to compete with Office 365 by telling the world that everything their competitor does, they do the same thing.  This is ridiculous!  If Google are ever going to compete here and not get completely stamped on by Microsoft, they need to tell people about all the differences, all the little things that Google Apps does which Office 365 doesn't that, ultimately make all the difference, and they need to make a big song and dance about the fact that they were here first and, thus, will have much more experience.

Those things are true and worth shouting about.  At the moment, poor Google is trying desperately to say "we're every bit as good as Office 365" while putting across an underlying message of "we know we're not really and it's getting us down a bit."

Online cloud services for businesses are going to be huge in the coming years, huge enough for several major players to get involved, and they'll prove to be critically important for the world's economy, especially in emerging markets and for small businesses that can't currently afford to compete with the big boys in a level playing field.  It's utterly essential then that Microsoft have at least one proper competitor who is prepared to roll its sleeves up and get stuck in with the job at hand.

I'm sorry Google but this kind of wimpy, last minute effort simply isn't good enough.

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Comments

  1. Anonymous said on June 29, 2011 at 1:50 am
    Reply

    Imagine leaving all your business data in the “cloud”? Scary or not?
    And I swear if one more article promoting this cloud crap appears on Ghacks I will never visit your blog. Hope normal people will follow.
    U Martin use to be a cool guy warning people of possible dangers and much more. Now it seems that money talks. Really sad.

    1. Martin Brinkmann said on June 29, 2011 at 9:32 am
      Reply

      If you’d follow Ghacks you’d know that I’m someone who avoids storing data online as best as I can. That does not mean that cloud based apps are not useful for companies, organizations or other users. I can dislike something or be wary of it but still see the benefits of it.

    2. Alec said on June 29, 2011 at 9:18 am
      Reply

      Urg, thats a foolish comment. This Article was written by Mike, not Martin. Either way the cloud is an emerging technology that needs to be debated. News is news, just because you do not like it, does not mean ghacks should not publish it.

      Good news Martin, you are still a cool guy =P Keep up the good work too Mike.

  2. TRY said on June 28, 2011 at 5:47 pm
    Reply

    Google, you feeling the heat.

  3. NKS said on June 28, 2011 at 6:53 am
    Reply

    Well, I am following gHack for around one year now. And lately I have observed that gHack is biased toward Microsoft. Could be only my opinion though.

    1. Alec said on June 28, 2011 at 10:01 am
      Reply

      Ghacks are not pro anyone which could be why your perception is that they are biased towards microsoft in this article. Its just that they are not openly google fanboys which is refreshing. As a side note I love google products but they are far from perfect.

      I think office 365 is exactly whats needed, some serious competition from a heavy hitter! Bring on the competition!

    2. Martin Brinkmann said on June 28, 2011 at 9:51 am
      Reply

      NKS, I’m sorry that you feel that way. We do not favor any company here at Ghacks.

      1. spb said on June 29, 2011 at 6:12 pm
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        I’m afraid I have to agree (to some extend) with NKS. Without going into the discussion of which product or company is better, it’s impossible not to notice that the way the article is written, suggests a strong disapproval of Google’s point of view while embracing a bit too much the virtues of Microsoft’s 365. And then when you realize the author is a is a Microsoft MVP for “Windows Expert”, the whole article just looses all the validity, in great part because this blog is suppose to be impartial. In a nutshell, you tend to loose interest in an article about how bad is to eat meat, once you know it has been written by a vegetarian.

      2. Martin Brinkmann said on June 29, 2011 at 6:55 pm
        Reply

        I disagree with that premise. Even if an article against eating meat is written by a vegetarian, it could still offer valid arguments that I would like to read. As long as it is disclosed, I would not have a problem with that. As far as I understand the article, it is a rebuttal of an article posted on Google’s blog which can be seen my many as an attack against Office 365. I mean, cmon, why did they name it 365 reasons if they only post 4?

        I do not necessarily agree with Mike’s point of view on the topic though, but I do not mind it either. And impartial? Cmon, no one is completely impartial.

  4. Dan said on June 28, 2011 at 3:57 am
    Reply

    Great article, thank you! I’m excited about 365 finally being released! I agree that there is definitely room for both Google Apps and Office 365 in the business world. I can easily think off the top of my head small offices that would be suited to either depending on their needs, wish to rely on Outlook, offline capabilities, remote, etc. They both have strengths and I think we should all welcome competition.

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