In a ZDNet Image
Gallery, I’ve gone through 7 products that may become part of a future Google
Web Office. Right now, Google doesn’t have a full web-based office suite on the
market – but this year they’ve gradually been compiling Web Office parts. For
example if you click on “all my services” in the top left corner of
your Gmail, you’ll go to your Google
account and see a list of products that Google offers. Many of them are Web
Office parts, or could easily become a part of a Web Office. Here is the current
list:
- Analytics
- Base
- Calendar
- Co-op
- Gmail (including GTalk)
- Page Creator
- Personalized Homepage
- Personalized Search
- Spreadsheets
Google Spreadsheet
So there are 9 current Google services listed – the 6 I’ve highlighted are
Office candidates. You can add word processing app Writely
to that, which makes 7 possible Web Office suite parts. Some of the pre-beta
products from the Google Labs page are
possible additions in the future, as well as Labs “graduates” like Google
Desktop. But let’s not worry too much about what’s missing
(presentations and project management aren’t even Google products yet).
Writely
Indeed there’s a lot of work to be done to integrate the 7 office-like
products listed above. While recently Google released the oddly named Google
Apps for Your Domain – which bundles together Gmail, Google Talk, Calendar
and Page Creator – it’s just the start of what could be done to integrate
products into an office suite.
Even so it’s worth looking at the current product mix, for clues to a future
Google Office. In the Image Gallery I’ve compiled, I’ve focused on
the 7 office-like products listed above. I’ve highlighted a few promising Web Office features from most of the products, even if there’s work to be done by
Google yet.
