FSN: Google versus Microsoft – time to change lanes?

Google versus Microsoft – time to change lanes?

17th July 2007
In the third part of our Google vs Microsoft series we wrap up the latest developments in this space and put our experts on the spot one last time. Mark Dye FSN's contributing editor reports.

These days it's difficult enough to keep up with everything that's going on in the world outside your window, so spare a thought for the poor IT manager who makes sure that your servers are up and running so that you can read this right now. His life is one of many difficult and sometimes costly choices for business. He has to make the decisions that most of us would hate to make, and if you've been reading this series of features, then you'll understand that Google and Microsoft are doing their best to make that choice all the more difficult.

Google Apps vs Microsoft Office in your office is an intriguing prospect at that. Not the 'Rumble in the jungle', but nonetheless two heavyweights slogging it out for the big bucks: your office business.

Google already claims that over 1000 of you are signing up to use its Google Apps suite of tools every day. Not good news for Microsoft's business division which will have been pleased with the profit of $3.4bn (£1.7bn) it made for Microsoft on sales of $4.8bn on the back of the release of Office 2007. To put this in perspective that profit figure is up $1bn on the corresponding quarter last year, with sales up 34%.

For its part Google has just made it a whole lot easier to make the switch as well with the addition of a new email migration feature that makes stored email searcheable and accessible from its browser interface.

As Vikaram Gupta, software engineer, Google Apps, recently put it on The Official Google Blog, "Now businesses and schools can spend less time worrying about 'maintaining infrastructure' and focus more on the things that matter most to them - like healthcare or educating students."

Gupta says that in the US one customer, Central Piedmont Community College , replaced its old email system for 30,000 users in just 3 weeks. "And that process came down to 3 million emails flying from their server over to ours in just 24 hours - more than 2,000 emails per minute, all without missing a beat," he adds.

Bigger enterprises are also casting an eye in Google's direction, with L'Oreal, General Electric and Procter & Gamble among those evaluating their offering with more than a passing degree of interest. And with the momentum building, the company has also made an attempt to put the final pieces into its jigsaw with the acquisitions of Zenter and Tonic Systems as it bids to match Microsoft on the PowerPoint stakes.

But before we get carried away by the Google bandwagon Bob Tarzey, service director at analysts Quocirca, reminds us that the overwhelming majority use Microsoft Office for three main reasons which aren't likely to change anytime soon.

Firstly, Office is embedded in everything we know and even if some companies have the motivation to change it would take some time. Secondly, he reasons that it's not just about the client tools – rather all the server applications that Microsoft provides.

"These will make Microsoft even more embedded as the supplier of collaboration tools for business," he says. "SharePoint and Exchange are obvious but there is some good stuff coming with Office Communications Server being released this summer."

This will provide intelligent presence capabilities based on a user's personal calendar and possible across multiple organisations using a federation server. "The point is," furthers Tarzey, "that it is not enough just to consider the desktop tools – the use of office applications is getting embedded deeper and deeper and Microsoft is ahead of many of the above offerings."

Then there's the fact that Microsoft is not just embedded in Small to medium businesses (SMBs), but also in the SMB supply chain, including the resale channel and retailers that many SOHOs (small office and home worker) turn to – important things to remember.

Going forward and getting the most out of the 21st Century office and colloboration tools will require more than a quick install. Things like directories, policies and links to other areas will all need to be set up. It's here that Tarzey says the Microsoft reseller channel will be key. "Where do you turn for help with integrating Google applications across you organisation?" he wonders.

Richard Edwards, senior research analyst, Butler Group suggests that SMBs in some verticals would look at OpenOffice and ThinkFree as possible alternatives while Buzzword may serve as a good inspiration and example of what is possible in the Web 2.0 era. "A lot depends on the priorities and concerns of the business," he says.

He adds, "Microsoft is a money making machine and it employs some very bright people. For all the fuss over Google et al there's little sign yet of any impact on their revenues and so I don't think Microsoft will be giving its software away any time soon."

A key differentiator in this space, Software as a Service (SaaS) will be the salvation for many a vendor, according to Edwards. However, he says they will have to deliver. "Buggy software will not be tolerated by the next generation of IT user, as they will simply switch to another tool or service."

"For most I would rule out an online only capability, pure SaaS is fine for many business applications and Quocirca is a strong proponent, but for office tools you need to be able to use offline and without the restriction of poor or variable network connections – at least for mobile employees, which is about 25% of the computer using work force," says Tarzey.

And while Edwards thinks the supported SaaS model is OK for use at home, he says we still aren't so keen during office hours. "I think the mix of architectures and business models will continue to morph over the coming months, with no single vendor ever again enjoying the dominance that Microsoft has had for the last 15 years or so," he adds.

In the meantime it's going to take the chasing pack a fair while to eat into Microsoft and its stranglehold share of more than 90% that it has on the office market. As Robert F Kennedy once said, "Like it or not, we live in interesting times…"

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