The Death Of Online Office Suites Is Greatly Exaggerated

from the not-dead-yet! dept

There's a ton of buzz going around over a new study, saying that only a small percentage of people even know what Google Docs is, with an even smaller subsection actually using it. Some are interpreting this to mean that web-based office suites are DOA, and that Microsoft's Office suite has things perfectly under control. While I agree that Microsoft Office isn't going anywhere for a long, long time, it's way too early to write off online (or alternative) office suites. Many of them are just getting started and are still missing some important and useful features -- but they're catching up quickly, and some are actually surpassing Microsoft Office in terms of some of the useful features (especially concerning collaboration).

There's also an important point that seems to have been missed in many of these discussions. The use of office apps are tied to two things: your employer and your upgrade cycle. If your employer requires you to use Microsoft Office, that's what you're going to use -- and companies will take their time shifting away from the known quantity. However, that doesn't mean they'll always be that way. Times change and so do the standard office IT configurations. More importantly, however, is the upgrade cycle. Most people get their office suite with their computer -- so any change only takes place every few years when they get a new computer. So, testing out new products will tend to have a delay. For example, two computers ago, I tried to use Open Office rather than Microsoft Office, but it wasn't quite up to the quality I needed, so I did end up getting Microsoft Office. However, earlier this year when I bought a new computer, I did not get Microsoft Office, and instead have relied on a combination of Open Office, Google Docs, Zoho and Thinkfree, depending on the situation. Give it a few more upgrade cycles, and enough publicity, and you can bet that unless Microsoft does something to compete with these alternatives, the numbers in a study like this one will start to change drastically. There will always be some lag, and Microsoft could do nothing and milk the Office cow for a long, long time. But, it's absolutely wrong to count the alternative providers out at this point in the game.

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