Best of both worlds - Google and Microsoft Office

Office WatchLast updated: 17 July 2018

We’re still waiting for some good integration between online services and more traditional office applications – the best of both worlds.

We’re still waiting for some good integration between online services and more traditional office applications – the best of both worlds. Microsoft Office makes that possible at the moment, but only for companies with deep pockets and technically savvy staff to set it up. Google has an opportunity (presumably via their links with open-source office suites) to let people run an Office-like suite with the degree of online sharing and access they are comfortable with.

For example, we like Google Calendar a lot. It makes sharing some parts of your life very easy. You can allow access to segments of your calendar for editing or just viewing in very simple ways that are a stark contrast to the cumbersome and expensive Microsoft options.

Outlook connected to Exchange Server can do some of this. Outlook data (contacts, calendar, tasks, notes and email) are synchronized between a central server and Outlook (which can be used offline). Any changes to make offline in Outlook are synchronized back to the server when next connected.

The real magic is the ability to access the same information without Outlook. Users can login to a web site and view email, calendar etc from any computer with a web link and a browser (no Office required). Exchange Server also has PDA and mobile phone (WAP) support so you can access your ‘Outlook’ data in a variety of ways from wherever you are.

What’s lacking are simple ways to give access to some or all of your calendar or documents – the stress on the word ‘simple’.

All this technology has been available from Microsoft for some time but at a price and nowhere near as easy to operate as the Google alternatives. The amazingly cheap Small Business Server from Microsoft is a significant investment in time and money even though it comes with Exchange Server (with all the access features mentioned above) and most current elements of Sharepoint.

Microsoft is better placed to satisfy demand for access to Office data offline and online because they have all the basic technology in place. Can they make those services available to a much wider audience while maintaining the dominance of Microsoft Office on desktops and servers?

Only time will tell. Whether you use Google’s online services, stick with Microsoft or try to mix the two, we’ll all benefit from some competition in the Office applications area.