Microsoft has dominated the software industry since the early 1980’s and made Bill Gates one of the richest men in the world but it’s days in the sun may be numbered?
Like many educators I returned to school this year to find Microsoft Office 2007 installed on the computers my students were issued. The latest version of Office looks and feels very different from its predecessors without adding any obvious new features of value. I find it less intuitive and more difficult to work with. My situation was not good.
My first challenge was to get Office 2007 installed on my computer so I could do demonstrations in a general education course on computing. Faculty computers were not scheduled to be updated. Yes someone was asleep at the wheel! Assertiveness paid off though and I met my class the next morning with the poorly designed upgrade. However, my long-term dissatisfaction with the school’s lack of software revision management was joined by a growing dissatisfaction in Office 2007.
I often wonder why Microsoft insists on making software for the masses that is too complicated for the common man to use? There lies it’s Achilles’ heel.
Google has, I believe, a better alternative. Google Documents freely provides the basic functions of word processing, spreadsheets, and presentation graphics to everyone on the Web. Their solutions are Web applications you can run on any computer connected to the Internet. They simply run in your web browser.
Here’s a dirty little industry secret. The vast majority of users only use about 10% of the functionality of Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. The remaining features are there for a vocal minority of power users who rarely use them anyway. So why complicate matters by including features most of us will never use? Intimidation?
Google’s software focuses on the sweet spots of functionality where the vast majority of people get their work done. The menus are sleeker and intuitive. You can easily find what you need to do and the software works more efficiently because the code is simpler. Simpler code means fewer software failures!
This is a good deal! You can get your work done without making Bill Gates any richer. Did I forget to mention you can work with files in Microsoft formats too. This means your work is compatible with all the poor suckers still running Microsoft Office!
The best part of Google Documents is the new features they got right!
First, your files are always safe because they are stored on Google’s servers which means you can access them anywhere you can connect to the Web. So you don’t have to carry the luggable laptop around the airport anymore! More importantly though is the fact your files are regularly backed up and kept safe by professional system administrators.
Second, you can actually collaborate on project files with no version control issues! I was blown away when I tested this feature.
The following podcast will show you how to get started using Google Documents.
It seems Google is leaving Microsoft in its software engineering dust!
