From: "Rich Gauszka" 


"Adam" <""4thwormcastfromthemolehill\"{at}the
field.near the bridge"> wrote in message
news:45e0952c$1{at}w3.nls.net...
> Rich Gauszka wrote:
>> It's much more than one buried article. just a few of a google of em
>> below.
>> I really wonder how much of the SMB market they'll acquire and how much
>> that
>> market really requires the shared/collaboration feature ( it may appeal
>> to
>> educational markets though). I'd  also say the real competition here for
>> SMB
>> is not Office but OpenOffice for any small business seeking to reduce
>> cost.
>>
>
> If only you could deliver openoffice over the net & have it use either
> local file or URL as a file source/sink.
>
> Adam

yep

http://www.itwire.com.au/content/view/9915/1085/
If Google Apps was integrated into a desktop suite such as OpenOffice - so
you could edit files on your desktop but know the latest version was stored
online if you needed to access it on the road - then Microsoft would really
have something to worry about. Google is rumoured to be considering buying
ThinkFree, one of the most tightly integrated Office-like online suites.
ThinkFree also offers a desktop-based Java version and a premium service is
under development that synchronises documents in the desktop and online
versions. Acquiring ThinkFree now looks less likely, but with Google you
just never know.

Sure it goes against the whole Web 2.0 philosophy, but until Google Apps
incorporates an offline option then it's only preaching to the converted.
It's going to struggle to win converts amongst old school Microsoft desktop
users who still don't have reliable enough internet access to trust their
documents to Google Apps.

Microsoft Office is Microsoft's cash cow, so Google Apps has the potential
to really hit Redmond where it hurts. Making Google Apps documents
available offline could finally create a true "Office killer".

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