Office Web Apps Versus Google Docs: Does Either Shine? - Forward Thinking by Michael J. Miller

Office Web Apps Versus Google Docs: Does Either Shine? - Forward Thinking by Michael J. Miller

Thursday June 17, 2010

A number of people have asked me what I think of Office Web Apps and how it compares with Google Docs. In some respects, the real question is whether the glass is half full or half empty.

Both of these online application suites, and other tools such as Zoho or Glide, work well enough for basic work and provide a convenient way of sharing data so you can collaborate with someone in another location. But I find both to have notable limitations. A switch to either as a primary tool would be a big step backward for me. Of course, I'm a "power user" of office applications, and that does skew my perspective.

You'll find some examples of typical jobs in each suite--and my evaluation of them--after the jump. (Just click to enlarge each of the embedded documents.) More...

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I have evaluated both Google Docs and Microsoft's Web Apps. I agree with Michael Miller's conclusions that neither web based word processing software is sufficiently robust enough to replace either Microsoft Word or my favorite general use word processor Apple iWork's, Pages. I have used all of these programs and I have found that even when I upload Microsoft Word formatted documents to their online Word web application some of my document formatting is altered. The same happens with Google docs but I would have expected that Microsoft's own Word Web application would accurately display documents formatted in Microsoft Word. Unfortunately this is not the case. In a pinch, if I needed to use a web based word processor, I would use Google Docs. Last year, while working at a radio station in Busan, South Korea, I often used Google Docs. I found it to be a satisfactory if not perfect solution to my need for an English language word processor.

John H. Armwood