The Google executive in charge of Google Enterprise is talking smack about Microsoft Office, saying that firms will be able to get rid of the software suite in one year’s time.
Man, those are some fighting words. The remarks came from Dave Girouard, president of Google’s enterprise division, in an interview with ZDNet Asia.
In context, what Girouard says does make sense. Open formats are the rule these days and proprietary formats like those from Microsoft will have less of an appeal. But it may not be just Google that rules the enterprise. Microsoft SaaS offerings will become more robust and a number of new players are making headway.
Girouard, one of four presidents at Google, said that in a year’s time, Google Docs will have a “point of capacity,” that will be enough for people to make the switch from Microsoft Office.
He admitted that at this point, Google Docs is much less mature but efforts are underway to add 30 to 50 new features and performance upgrades that will put it in a position to work for the “vast majority” of users.
He added that Microsoft Office will never go away but as it stands it is overkill for most users. In his words, Office will be more for specialty users.
Hubris? Perhaps. Microsoft still has a huge lead and its Sharepoint product is really the future for Microsoft’s place in the enterprise.
But open formats are what’s hot. Young people are used to the way the Internet works. They have access to so much information that it is critical for them to port it to where they want it to be. Girouard says this movement will spread into the enterprise.
