14 DAY TRIAL // Google has been going after Microsoft's lucrative enterprise customers for quite a while now. Google Apps can be a good alternative to a number of Microsoft products in many cases and it adds the big advantages of the cloud platform.
Still, there are plenty of reasons why Office or stand-alone software in general are going to be better than Google's offerings.
But Google is taking that on as well with the brand new Google Cloud Connect for Microsoft Office, a plugin for the popular software suite which adds all the benefits of the cloud to the existing software.
Essentially, it enables users to store all of their files online, seamlessly, and collaborate on the same file, making simultaneous edits - all the advantages of Google Docs with none of the drawbacks.
"Google Cloud Connect for Microsoft Office is now available to all users worldwide, letting two or more people work together on the same file at the same time in Microsoft Office 2003, 2007 or 2010 on Windows PCs," Shan Sinha, Google Apps Product Manager, announced.
"Instead of bombarding each other with attachments and hassling to reconcile people’s edits, your whole team can focus on productive work together," he explained.
"Google Cloud Connect vastly improves Microsoft Office 2003, 2007 and 2010, so companies can start using web-enabled teamwork tools without upgrading Microsoft Office or implementing SharePoint 2010," he added.
While Cloud Connect may be new, the idea and technology behind it is not. About a year ago, Google acquired DocVerse, a startup which offered pretty much what Cloud Connect does now. The result of that acquisition is the product launched today.
The plugin is free to use and works with all of the latest Office versions. In fact, Google is positioning it as a way of improving the functionality of older versions without upgrading the software.
Along with the launch, Google is also running a promotion, enabling companies to use Cloud Connect along with Google Apps for a small fee for 90 days for evaluation.