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Information Technology News Google Apps offline? OpenOffice free? Here's a thought
Information Technology News Google Apps offline? OpenOffice free? Here's a thought | Google Apps offline? OpenOffice free? Here's a thought |
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| by Stan Beer | |
| Tuesday, 27 February 2007 | |
  
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The honest answer is that Google and the proponents of Google Apps still don't have a satisfactory answer. As Ovum analyst David Bardshaw puts it: "There's been a lot of debate in the blogsphere over the necessity of offline clients for software-as-a-service, but a consensus seems to have been reached that there are certain classes of application for which it is a necessity. High-bandwidth internet may be pervasive in most of Google's target markets, but it isn't always available - especially for laptop users who want to work on the go. With laptops currently outselling desktops, Google needs to develop a 'detached' client to gain broad adoption." Online Microsoft Office clone provider Thinkfree provides its web-based product with 1GB of storage for free and also offers an offline desktop version for US$50. The two weaknesses in the otherwise very good offering is that Thinkfree doesn't provide enough free storage, just 1GB compared to 2 GB for Google Apps, and the company has to charge users for the offline software. Looking at Google Apps from both a consumer and business perspective then, an ideal solution would be to use Google Apps combined with a free open source desktop suite such as OpenOffice.org. For consumers, the offering would be totally free, while for businesses this would provide a low cost, low maintenance solution for mobile workers, as well as providing a local storage option. Yes compared to Office 2007 or even Office 2003, OpenOffice.org is a little clunky and less snazzy looking but who cares? It has all the necessary functionality for 95% of business users and an even higher proportion of consumers and it would only be used for offline purposes anyway. I've installed it on my new Dell Latitude laptop and it works fine. At present Google is touting the fact that the world is increasingly becoming a perpetually connected universe. While that may be true, users will always want local storage backup and, at least for some time to come, the ability to work offline. Perhaps Google would do well to consider the opportunity that the cost free OpenOffice.org, which works on both Windows and Linux, offers to provide the offline option that Google Apps needs. Some tighter integration between the two products would be welcomed by many.{moscomment} |
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