Filed under: Business, Internet, News, Office, Productivity, Web services, Google, Microsoft
Google takes aim, fires at Microsoft Office
Google just launched Google Apps Premier, a suite of subscription based business applications taking direct aim at Microsoft's business owner market share. They have already signed up mega corporation Proctor and Gamble Global Business Service as a charter member and more are expected to follow suit. The service is $50 per user account per year (free for trial until April 30th), and includes phone support, additional storage, and a new set of administration and business integration capabilities. The premier edition will include the standard features of Google Apps including GMail, Google Calendar, Google Talk and IM. Another goodie Google announced today, is the inclusion of Google Docs and Spreadsheets in both packages. You can see how the two packages compare by clicking here.We want to know, where's the presentation software? If you're going head to head with the Microsoft behemoth, PowerPoint is surely a must have in the corporate world.
Naturally, this announcement has generated the usual grumblings of Google hegemony and security concerns, issues raised by people concerned that Google is set to take over the world. These concerns will continue to be scrutinized in the months to come as the innovative Google extends its never ending reach into our personal and work lives. Office isn't mortally wounded however, we can only imagine that some execu-drones in Redmond will be having a 2 Maalox lunch this afternoon. We'll have more to say on how today's announcement squares with Microsoft Office, so stay tuned.
So, just how good at time waster games are you? Think you've got the stuff? Well, The World's Hardest Game 2.0 doesn't think you do.
Yes, amazingly, it's possible to have a sequel to a game called "The World's Hardest Game". It doesn't seem logically possible, since if the first one was actually the world's hardest, how could another one come along and share the moniker? It made me doubt the name in the first place. That is, until I tried the game.
The mechanics of the game are very simple. You are a small red square, ...
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
acyclic said 12:58PM on 2-22-2007
GMail... are they making people pay for beta software? Maybe I'm just not understanding what they're offering. I would never use GMail as a work account - servers are down far too often.
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Dan Warne said 3:41PM on 2-22-2007
If google could offer over-the-air calendar sync with blackberry, I'd be there in a shot.
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Brad Hill said 4:02PM on 2-23-2007
One downfall to this, and it's a deal-breaker: you can't migrate archived Gmail from a pre-existing account into Google Apps. In fact, you can't import mail from anywhere. Call me back when that's fixed.
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Dan Warne said 1:39AM on 3-06-2007
Brad -- Google has announced a 'limited release' of a 'mail migration tool'. I can't find a link to it anywhere on my Google Apps Premium account so perhaps they are releasing it to universities first or something. They also have an FAQ acknowledging that they know it's a very important requirement for people.
My biggest complaint with Google Apps Premium so far is that it doesn't seem to work well with my Blackberry. I have set it up and the account has activated OK on my Blackberry, but mail basically isn't coming through. I've had the odd one appear but it's like 1 in 200 emails that should be coming through. My telco (Optus) doesn't know what the problem is. I'm yet to call the Google Premium Support line.
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