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…
ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
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 October 25, 2010, In Google Apps, Google vs. Microsoft, Opinions, Uncategorized, By The Google Bee
During the run up to Office 365's launch, the market expected Microsoft to roll up Office Web Apps in Microsoft BPOS. Then the launch happened. A new product Office 365 was announced. “Office 365 is the best of everything we know about productivity, all in a single cloud service,” said Kurt DelBene, president of the Office Division at Microsoft. And that this was the ""biggest commitment Microsoft has ever made" in bringing customer infrastructure into Microsoft data centers. Woaw!
So what is Office365?
On October 15, 2010, In Google Apps, Google vs. Microsoft, Opinions, Uncategorized, By The Google Bee
One of the hardest figures to find anywhere, are the relative market shares of vendors in the messaging and collaboration market. I have split many hair ends trying to find the market share of MS Exchange in the messaging market, Google Apps in the collaboration market and so on.
There is extensive media coverage when Google Apps scores this win or that, or crosses a certain milestone in its user count (it recently crossed 3 million customers and 30 million users); and equally frenzied coverage when Microsoft BPOS gets a new enterprise customer, or crosses a certain landmark.
On October 12, 2010, In Google Apps, Opinions, By The Google Bee
One of the major lacune in Google Apps' otherwise rocking product offering is, it's customer support (read my blog entry comparing the service offering of Google Apps and Microsoft). Having served the consumer market for so long, its approach has always been that of "customer self service" – its thriving help forums and user communities, its extensive videos and other documentation.
But an important lesson is, people who pay money for something, want a good old human to swear at if something goes wrong. Well, not exactly swear, but they need the "human touch" – someone who can listen to their problems and suggest a solution at the earliest, because many Google Apps small business users just arent as tech savvy as me and you are.
On October 1, 2010, In Google Apps, Opinions, By The Google Bee
In its continuing strategy of integrating with solutions it competes with (remember its earlier integrations with SharePoint and Google Apps), Zoho has added "contextual information integration" with GMail. According to Zoho, "contextual integration" emphasizes the users data and context and not the application.
Earlier Zoho has demosntrated this model with integration between its different modules, but this is the first time it is offering contextual integration with a third party app. This was made possible after Google announced Contextual Gadgets for Gmail enabling third party applications to integrate into an email message in Gmail.
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