It’s confirmed that Google is doing much more than just dabbling in online apps, they are now entering into the web based apps space with full Google force.  The new tagline says it all:

Search, Ads and Apps

Over the last year, Google has consumed the company’s Writely (creators of a web based word processor app), iRows (web based spreadsheet app), and most recently Tonic (web base slide show app).

Just the other week, a representative from Google said their goal wasn’t to go head to head with Microsoft in the office application world, but based on its new tagline, it appears that this is exactly what Google is doing.

Google will offer the web based office-type apps for free to the regular user and will license use for a fee to companies.  Yay!  That’s one way to cut down on pirated software.  Let’s face it - it’s difficult for the average user to pay the steep price for Microsoft Office. 

Will Google overtake Microsoft?  That remains to be seen.  The downside to web apps is that they are currently much slower than desktop apps – however much more convenient, useful, and now free. 

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Apple’s new iPhone is still a month or more from release, and already Microsoft is making public statements that the iPhone “lacks business savvy.”   

Why?  According to an article published on ZD Net, a Microsoft exec is quoted as saying:

“Apple’s soon-to-be-launched iPhone will be irrelevant to business users because it is a ‘closed device’ and does not support Microsoft Office.”

According Apple enthusiast AJ at Marketcircle, the iPhone is “the best small business phone out there. The reason: It’s flipping easy to use!”

It’s understandable that Microsoft is a little defensive.  After all the software giant’s new Zune music player has bombed in comparison to the iPod, and replicas of it’s Office applications are being distributed for free by Google, the company that destroyed them in the search arena. 

Regardless of what Microsoft has to say, there are hordes of people early anticipating the release of the iPhone.  The fact that you can’t open all Microsoft Office documents might limit some sales to Microsoft driven companies, or it may just convince them to switch to Mac!

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Microsoft, the company that has made its fortune selling software, has finally accepted what the rest of the technology world has seen coming for quite some time.  The future of software is SaaS (Software as a Service) – pay as you go use of software as opposed to paying expensive up-front costs for static boxed software.   

Well, sort of.  The company is still clinging to the desktop model, trying to redefine SaaS as “a combination of desktop software and web-based widgetry” and referring to it often as “software plus service.”

Some of today’s most successful players in the world of Software as a Service are progressive companies like SalesForce.com, the CRM giant, and 37 Signals, creators of Basecamp and other shared project management applications. 

Microsoft’s Silverlight technology (the competitor of Adobe Flash) is the first of what they say will be other SaaS-type applications.  Steve Balmer says that Microsoft’s SaaS strategy may include a new round of acquisitions – potentially very large ones.    

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Word broke on Tuesday that Google had purchased Tonic Systems, a software company with an online web app similar in functionality to PowerPoint. Google execs say that the new spreadsheet application will join the Google Docs & Spreadsheets suite this summer.

Google’s Mike Schmitt says that he “doesn’t think” their goal is to kill Microsoft Office, all logic points to the contrary. Whether or not it happens remains to be seen, but it does seem that this is the goal Google is trying to achieve.

Google is the first to admit that the slideshow application, just like its Word-type and Excel-type applications are not equal in functionality to that of Microsoft’s similar applications. As someone who has used both, I can certainly vouch for this. The applications are slow and only offer basic features—at least for now.

Google’s dabbling in traditionally desktop applications makes me wonder if they will face a similar fate as when Microsoft tried to move into search. Microsoft, the once technology giant, fell flat when it attempted to move into new turf and many would say has been on a downward spiral ever since. But so far, Google has a history of having a Midas touch and succeeding in just about everything it tries.

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In a conversation with a financial analyst, CEO of Microsoft Steve Ballmer argued that MS Vista’s sales have been down due to all those pirates doing their dirty job in China, Russia, India, Brazil, and other emerging markets.

He also admitted that Microsoft will keep putting more emphasis on the development of more Windows Genuine features to compensate for low sales on a global level and to prevent illegal software distribution.

Of course they have to do something about it! Shelling out accusations may help defend their cause for a while, but in the long-haul? This is all too strange!

The MS Vista operating system is known for being extremely high tech, pushing hardware requirements to the limit. Why should guys from those countries try burning copies of MS Vista if most PC’s can even run the software? Maybe just for the thrill of it?

Think for yourself.

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