Microsoft Office Web Apps – Excel and Such…

So thanks to a comment from TempWorks Software CEO, Gregg Dourgarian, I decided to give Microsoft’s Sky Drive a shot to be a potential replacement for my obsession with Google Docs. In using it for a whopping 15 minutes or so, I found a few pros and cons:

Pros	Cons
Storage Space (25GB)	Web Apps is only available to a select group of Live users. My team can’t fully use it yet.
Shared Security based off of Windows Live Messenger Contacts and Categories	Word is not available yet
“Pretty” User Interface with Large Buttons and Familiar Graphics	Can share folders only, not individual files
Power User features that Google Docs lacks	Can’t set different security for subfolders, only root folders
Familiar User Interface (Ribbon menus)	No integration with Mesh’s storage
Drag & Drop file uploading	Slower than desktop version
	No “invite people” link
	No master list of documents; all folder-based.
	Doesn’t work on Google Chrome

 

As a user who is accustomed to working hand-in-hand with other users, the lack of a clear sharing workflow, the inability for all of my users to use the web apps due to the “preview” piece, and the lack of cross-browser support has put me off of Web Apps… for now, at least.

In my ideal world, Microsoft will fix up their sharing and collaboration workflow and integrate with the other cloud computing products out there, such as Mesh, and it will make this a much more viable option for me. Until then, Google Docs reigns champion still.

Microsoft Falls Short of Google in Document Collaboration Arena

 

Software giant, Microsoft, is falling short in this blogger’s eyes, when it comes to document collaboration and project management software in the cloud computing world. Live Mesh Beta from Microsoft helps close the gap, but unlike Google Docs, Live Mesh doesn’t provide us with real time document collaboration. It provides a decent synchronization engine, along with some nice features such as a proprietary remote computing environment and Windows Explorer integration, but still can’t compete with the simplicity and usefulness of Google Docs for real telecommuters or project managers.

The Paperless Staffing team uses Google Docs to help coordinate the “many hands in the cookie jar” aspect of our business so that we are always on the same page with everything. From weekly processing, to onboarding and underwriting, everyone needs to be in the know. This means that multiple people will have documents open and will be editing them simultaneously. With Google Docs… no problem. With Mesh… no way.

Come on, Microsoft. Crank it up a notch.

The Ultimate Sacrifice

Though two years have passed, your memory has not. Fallen, but never forgotten, Rachael. May you rest in peace. I miss you.