Nov 23, 2010 13:28 GMT  ·  By

Google has never made much of a secret of the fact that it is trying to convert Microsoft Office customers to Google Docs, but the company’s latest move is more of a “if you can’t beat them join them” tactic. Essentially, the Mountain View-based search giant is trying to make Google Docs an integral part of the workflow of Office 2010, Office 2007 and Office 2003, enabling hardcore Microsoft Office users to also leverage its Cloud productivity suite.

The focus is of course on dominating the synchronization, sharing and collaboration services that can orbit around the desktop flavor of the Office productivity suite.

Microsoft has its own set of offerings, including SharePoint, Docs.com for Facebook and Office Web Apps, and the company is also moving to release Office 365 in 2011, and the search giant now has Google Cloud Connect for Microsoft Office.

“With Cloud Connect, people can continue to use the familiar Office interface, while reaping many of the benefits of web-based collaboration that Google Docs users already enjoy,” revealed Shan Sinha, Google Group Product Manager.

“Users of Office 2003, 2007 and 2010 can sync their Office documents to the Google cloud, without ever leaving Office.

‘Once synced, documents are backed-up, given a unique URL, and can be accessed from anywhere (including mobile devices) at any time through Google Docs. And because the files are stored in the cloud, people always have access to the current version.”

Access to Google Cloud Connect for Microsoft Office has already been cut, with the Mountain View-based company citing large demand from testers interested in taking the office plug-in out for a spin.

Google Cloud Connect for Microsoft Office is designed as an extension for the Word, Excel and PowerPoint components of the productivity suite. Only the public Office application programming interfaces (APIs) were leveraged in building Google’s new Cloud offering for Office.

One think is clear. There’s a need for additional and better synchronization, sharing and collaborative productivity tools.

The Cloud does provide the obvious bridge to connect users that are otherwise forced to work with desktops and share documents via email, sometimes with inferior results.

Whether Google Cloud Connect for Microsoft Office is the answer it remains to be seen. At this point in time, Google Cloud Connect for Microsoft Office is only available by invitation only, and just for testing. Early adopters can sign up on this waiting list.

“Once in the Google cloud, documents can be easily shared and even simultaneously edited by multiple people, from right within Office,” Sinha added.

“A full revision history is kept as the files are edited, and users can revert to earlier versions in one click. These are all features that Google Docs users already enjoy today, and now we’re bringing them to Microsoft Office.”