Office Web Apps vs Google Docs

PC World reported that Microsoft is releasing Office 2010 this week. It will be available first on TechNet and MSDN Subscribers first. This is followed by customers with software assurance, and then to retail consumers in June.

Google IS currently the leader in cloud computing for office applications.

It has been so for many years.

Documents, presentations, spreadsheets, forms and drawings are the document types that are supported by Google Docs.

I am a heavy user of Google Docs, despite its limited feature for one very simple reason: flexible document portability. No matter where I am, anywhere around the world, on any computer (except China, now that Google is effectively blocked from this country), I am able to edit documents using  Google Docs. All that is needed is any computer and a connection to the Internet.

Google Docs still does have its limitations. In my experience, it is best used for web-only content development. While printing gDocuments is supported, it is still slightly slower. More importantly, one doesn’t “feel” right when it comes to sending a print job to a printer.

In the past year, I found myself using both Google Docs and Office 2007. The interface and feature set of Office 2007 is superior to that offered by Google. Not to be picky, since you get what you pay for. Docs ended up being a way to store and access data ‘in the cloud.’ The desktop software of Office was used to format the document.

Who will be an early adapter for Office Web App (OWA)? If OWA offers adequate performance, OWA may be a worthwhile replacement to Google Docs.

Will I switch from Google Docs even if OWA is superior? Probably not. I use gMail, and Google Docs is just a click away.