14 DAY TRIAL // When it comes to attacking rivals and criticizing their products, Microsoft isn't shy at all. Redmond has recently published a blog post to emphasize that Google Docs is clearly inferior to Office, not only because it doesn't provide the same rich feature package, but also because it lacks the powerful collaboration tools that you'd get when opting for its own productivity suite.
The blog post, which was started to bring some of the key features implemented in Office, ended on a more critical note, with Microsoft emphasizing that no matter how hard you try, Google Docs will never provide what it called a “suboptimal experience” to users.
One of the reasons for this, Microsoft says, is the unfamiliar look of the service, which obviously doesn't boast the same easy-to-use tools as Office. Collaboration is also affected, so formatting a specific document would take longer than expected, it explained.
“If someone on your team moves the file to Google Drive and opens it to make changes, you no longer experience that familiar Office look and the formatting is a mess, will likely be recreating the formatting and making sure no content was lost,” the company said today.
“No matter what kind of group project you’re collaborating on, you don’t want to waste time reformatting and finalizing the collective work of your team, or worrying whether one or more of your team members is unable to share in the rich Office experience on their devices.”
In the end, Microsoft explains that it's now working to make Office available on as many platforms as possible, so in case you're thinking to switch to Google Docs, you might want to wait a little bit more until Office becomes available on your device too.
“Why settle for a suboptimal experience using Google Docs, Sheets and Slides when Office provides you the best experience available with the modern Office experience on PC and iPad already. Office will be available on other platforms soon. These Office experiences will continue to make collaborating across devices easier, richer and more complete than ever,” it said.
Microsoft has recently introduced the new Office for iPad and is now working on Office Touch, a new version of the productivity suite that would be specifically aimed at those who have already migrated to Windows 8 and want to use the app in the Modern UI. Office Touch is expected to launch later this year after the Android port.