This week Google got serious about entering the small business space by unveiling a beta version of ‘Google for apps for your domain’ – like other releases it’s a beta trial at the moment.
This week Google got serious about entering the small business space by unveiling a beta version of ‘Google for apps for your domain’ – like other releases it’s a beta trial at the moment. You can apply to join from here.
In many ways this is just a bundling of some already announced and tested Google features into a single coherent package. It is designed for businesses to bring all their staff services, especially email, under the one package.
The current free (advertising-supported) package has Gmail, Google Talk (instant messaging), Google Calendar and Google Page Creator (a simple web page design tool).
For some time Google has been quietly testing ‘Gmail for domains’ where you can have a series of Gmail accounts but using your own domain name as the address, not just “@gmail.com”. It’s designed for small / medium businesses but could also be used by families or clubs. ‘Google for apps for domains’ offers that plus access to other Google online services.
You don’t need a crystal ball to guess that an online word-processor (renamed from Writely.com bought by Google) and Spreadsheets (getting better all the time as it continues testing) will become part of the mix in the future.
Microsoft has touted the benefits of sharing information, especially with calendars and worksheets for a long time but their solutions have been clumsy (the ill-fated ‘NetFolders’ in Outlook) and invariably reliant on links to other expensive Microsoft products (Windows Server, Exchange Server, Sharepoint etc.).
Google is providing some of that service in a more elegant and seamless way. Google Calendar is especially compelling with a wonderful set of features, some of which serve to highlight glaring omissions from Outlook.
We think some of the Google services are interesting and even if you don’t intend to move across to some form of ‘Google Office’ they could be a useful alternative to fill some gaps, either not available from Microsoft or only available with a large investment of time and money. That’s why we keep an eye on Google’s new services in what is, after all, a Microsoft Office newsletter.
Microsoft is firmly aimed at the corporate users while Google’s features are more suitable to individuals or small businesses.
As we’ve said before, while Office-like services from Google are interesting we don’t think they are as compelling as the hype would have you believe. Online services need a regularly available, very reliable and preferably fast Internet connection. You might be lucky enough or sedentary enough to make that work but for most of us some offline access to email and documents is essential for practical purposes and peace of mind.See Also
- Extending Office with Google Docs and Spreadsheets
- Best of both worlds – Google and Microsoft Office
