Microsoft's Office 365 and Google Apps Still Fight for Dominance
January 02, 2013
By Monica Gleberman, Contributing Writer
When thinking about the technology giants, you’ll be hard pressed to not find a group of people who name either Google (News - Alert) or Microsoft. Although Microsoft has been around longer and faced a lot of criticism over the years – the two companies still remain competitors, even in the cloud market.
Last year, Microsoft (News - Alert) revealed it would be releasing its latest version of its productivity suite, Office 2013. In addition, consumers could also expect the launch of an online productivity suite, Office 365. These two products would give users a choice between locally installing Office onto their computers and accessing the suite through the cloud from any device, anywhere.
In response, Google came back with major developments of its own, Google Drive and Google Apps. Google Drive lets users store everything from documents, notes, excel spreadsheets, photos, and more within the Google cloud. Users can upload the document from one computer and edit it from another device in another location. This was Google’s answer to Office 365.
Meanwhile, Google Apps (which is a little newer) enhances the online experience adding features such as video chat, real-time communication via e-mail and more, allowing for enterprises to take advantage of its collaboration benefits.
Some analysts are saying Google Apps might give Google the advantage over Microsoft it has been looking for. “Google certainly has the price advantage over Microsoft,” said Sara Radicati, president and CEO of The Radicati Group (News - Alert). “It’s hard to compare the two in many ways, since they are hitting different areas, but Google has a simple, easy-to-understand pricing structure that makes it easy for an organization to budget and plan for. Microsoft has one of the most complicated structures.”
However, according to Radicati, Microsoft isn’t out of the race just yet. “Where Google is lacking is in history, Microsoft has an advantage because of their history in enterprise,” said Radicati. “They have a huge install base and a tremendous tie-in to all typical enterprise offerings and desktops, so in that respect there’s a huge class of organizations that have such an investment in Microsoft that it will be tough to leave.”
Want to learn more about the latest in communications and technology? Then be sure to attend ITEXPO Miami 2013, Jan 29- Feb. 1 in Miami, Florida. Stay in touch with everything happening at ITEXPO (News - Alert). Follow us on Twitter.
Edited by Brooke Neuman