I just came across an article on Information Week titled Can Google+ Become A Biz Collaboration Tool?. This discussion has been going around for a while, and my reaction was…
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On September 8, 2011, In Gmail, Google Apps, Google Docs, Latest News, Uncategorized, By The Google Bee
Offline access has been the top requested Google Apps feature for quite some time now, especially after Google withdrew offline access through Google Gears last year to concentrate on HTML5 based technology. Finally, the promised offline access capability has been announced by Google. Offline Gmail access is available through a web app in the Chrome Web Store, and offline access to Google Calendars and Docs is seamlessly available through the same interfaces even if the net connection is off.
However, as Microsoft was quick to point out, offline access capabilities are severely limited. For one, offline Gmail access is a stripped down version of regular Gmail, and is accessible only through a specific version of Chrome used by less than 2% of browser users. On the other hand, users only get read only access to Google Docs online.
Just when you thought that the business application market, where everything from social networking, to intranets, to document management, to email, to project management, to solutions-you-can't-make-or-tail-of are sold under the banner of "collaboration", couldn't get any more complex, Apple launched iCloud.
iCloud syncs all your information between your Apple devices and the web, quite seamlessly – email, contacts, calendars, documents, music, pictures or any other. Steve Jobs attempt to hook you to the Apple environment.
Recently, the blogosphere was all abuzz about a Gmail bug deleting the data of .08%, wait, 0.2% of its users. The data didn't remain deleted forever, as for all its techno prowess, Google had also conservatively kept a physical backup of the data on tapes. But recovery was slow and painstaking, and it took Google 4 lumbering days to restore the data (disaster in business terms!).
Since public memory is short, the Google Bee felt it was a good time to dig up the archives, and research Gmail's track record. Because from what the Bee remembers, this isnt exactly the first time. Here is what the Bee discovered after his sojourn in the time machine.
On December 21, 2010, In Google Apps, Google Docs, Google vs. Microsoft, Latest News, MS Office Web Apps, Opinions, By The Google Bee
The web productivity / collaboration / workspace / office (call it what you may) market never fails to confound me. It is perplexing to try and make out who is collaborating with who, and with what product.
Anyway, first things first.
On November 16, 2010, In Latest News, Opinions, By The Google Bee
Gmail aint dyin'
As everyone knows, Facebook launched its email application a few days ago. As expected, it sent the "Gmail killer" brigade into a frenzy, and debates of this doing in Gmail was everywhere, especially since it is rumored that the new "Facebook Messages" feature was nicknamed "Gmail killer" internally. But as we know, there are few murderers in the web industry. We hear talk to "MS Office killer", "SharePoint killer", "email killer" all the time, but these popular applications die their own slow death.
So, Facebook Messages are not a Gmail killer.
If anybody had any doubts about the Google Apps vs. Microsoft BPOS battle being serious, read this. Google has sued the US Department of Interior, for allegedly favoring Microsoft while setting bid conditions for a government contract. Google has accused the DOI of floating a Request for Quatation (RFQ) seeking to replace the Department's disparate email and collaboration systems, which excludes Google Apps, and favors Microsoft's Business Productivity Online Suite.
Google has called the RFQ "unduly restrictive of competition" and that it was “arbitrary and capricious, an abuse of discretion, and otherwise contrary to the law.” The RFQ clearly states, that the solution should be "part of the Business Productivity Online Suite", which is Google is so worked up about. Before approaching the Court, Google approached the DOI even before the RFQ was floated, but was rebutted.
On August 18, 2010, In Google Apps, Latest News, By The Google Bee
The Google Bee apoligizes for being late on this one. Some may argue that Google's real focus is the enterprise market, and what it really wants is a piece of the multi billion pie Microsoft is hogging right now. However, as a reiteration of its interest in the SMB maket, Google started its "small business blog" a couple of weeks ago.
This new blog follows the success of the "small business series" on the official Google blog, and Google felt a separate blog was warranted.
A few months ago, Google Apps added the ability to store multiple file types to Google Docs. Not quite the GDrive that the market was expecting, but a nifty and useful feature nonetheless (Memeo did in fact launch a service called the GDrive for Google Docs later).
Now, Google has introduced the ability to convert the files stored in Google Docs to Google Docs online formats. There are two ways to do this:-
On July 21, 2010, In Google Apps, Latest News, By The Google Bee
Christopher Dawson (ZDNet) will be happy about this. A few weeks ago, Christopher had blogged about Google announcing multiple domain support. However, as it turned out, this new feature was accompanied with a large list of limitations, making it something of a damp squib.
As Chris pointed out, although multi domain support allowed administrators the convenience of managing Google Apps on different domains from a single console, it did not allow the administrators to apply different policy controls for different domains.
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