In a Microsoft video extolling its virtues, the narrator makes the point that marketing is difficult with Google Apps. It’s far simpler with Microsoft Office.
So we find it deliciously ironic that Microsoft is marketing a number of anti-
Google Apps videos using Google’s YouTube. Hmm…doesn’t that defeat the point a bit?
The video is one of several on Microsoft’s YouTube channel highlighted by The Google Operating Systems blog, an unofficial blog with news and tips about Google.
The videos all go to great lengths to show why Google Apps is insufficient. They go through a number of scenarios. For instance, a CEO loses his smartphone and then realizes a conference room may be overbooked. It all makes Google Apps seem extremely complicated and risky to use.
The Google Operating Systems blog points out that Google has fixed a number of the issues that Microsoft talks about, including:remote data wipe, the calendar issue and better copy/paste experience in Google Docs.
It’s all a bit hard to swallow. Google Apps has to be one of the easiest applications to use. Yes it has its faults. And many will never make the switch as they want the deep feature sets that Microsoft Office provides.
But Google Apps is adding new features at a constant rate. The productivity suite is filling out with new services like Google Voice and Google Wave coming into the picture.
We are all for using video to explain products and services. But these videos come off as quite defensive. They illustrate a sense of fear.
Microsoft has such a strong product in Microsoft Office. Microsoft Corp. President Stephen Elop seems to be someone who understands the interdependency of the Web ecosystem. But he has a tough road ahead if this kind of marketing continues from Microsoft.
It all feels like a company protecting its power base more so than embracing the current disruption in the market.
