The market for software today is expanding exponentially and it’s not all costly and from Microsoft. Companies like Google are offering solutions that should make small business owners think twice about paying for costly Microsoft licenses. Productivity software is a prime example of software that is required by all businesses. Microsoft Office is the most used productivity software on the market today. But there are other options. Google Docs is one of these options.
Google Docs has 3 primary components: word processing, spreadsheets and presentation software. This software is not equal with MS Office in terms of functionality. But the reality is that most companies don’t use half the functionality available in MS Office. So this really isn’t an issue.
Word Processing
With Word Processing users get all the basic formatting capabilities like fonts, bold, italics, size, color, etc. There are a limited set of fonts available. Users can select from a limited set of standard styles like headings and have the ability to insert header and footer sections.
Users can insert links, bookmarks, images, comments, tables and page breaks.
Users can save documents to Google's servers and can also export to html, Word, OpenOffice, Text, pdf and RTF.
Spreadsheets
All the standard formating options are available for spreadsheets, including the ability to sort and freeze columns.
There are a number of formulas available in categories such as math, financial, logical, date, statistic and text.
Users can add charts, images, and comments to spreadsheets as well.
Finally, users can export spreadsheets to formats like csv, html, ods, pdf, xls, and txt.
Presentations
With presentations, users can create standard slides from a set of templates. There are a set of themes from which one selects. Users can also insert images, shapes and text - formatting the text as well.
Users can export as a PDF or Text file and run the presentation online. In addition, users can import PPTs to view and modify.
The presentations component is probably the most limited, but it still offers most of the basic functionality required.
What’s also different about Google Apps is that it’s not a product that users buy and install in-house. It’s on demand software or “Software as a Service”. This means users access it over the internet, and their data is stored on Google Servers as well as on their desktops. Users also need a Google ID to access the software.
All 3 components allow users to review previous versions of the document and revert to any version they want.
Google Docs Inter-program Collaboration
In addition to being able to create documents, spreadsheets, and presentations, Google provides the ability to collaborate on them with others. This can be done using Gmail, Google Talk or by publishing to the Internet and inviting others to view and/or collaborate.
Google Docs is available to individuals free or to Organizations as a Team Edition, but companies can buy a license called Premier Edition that gets them some extra things:
- 24/7 + phone support
- email policy management
- access to an API to integrate with in-house applications.
The Premier Edition costs $50/account/year. It gives a company Google Talk, Gmail, Google Docs, and Page Creator.
It’s becoming much more common these days to use on-demand applications instead of in-house software. There’s a lower licensing cost, no hardware or software maintenance or helpdesk requirements for the company – this is Google’s responsibility, and new functionality available on the regular basis.
So before spending money on Microsoft Office, have a closer look at Google Apps and decide if the features available are what you need. Take it for a test drive as an individual and then decide – something you can’t do with MS Office.
Barb Mosher - Barb Mosher is a Web Solutions Architect working in the Information Technology industry for over 11 years. Specializing in the design and ...
