SEL: Google Officially Joins Battle for the Online Office

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Search marketing in the new media era.

March 10, 2006

Google Officially Joins Battle for the Online Office

Google just bought Writely, a “collaborative word processor that runs in a web browser.” What does this mean? It’s confirmation of Google’s aims at an online office, and a direct assault on MSN, also creating an online office.

What will this mean for marketers? Ad buys on the tools - besides email - that people use all day. The fragmentation of search - now we'll be optimizing client sites so their white papers and case studies appear on the budgeting spreadsheets people are working on.

Adoption will be the biggest problem the online office model faces, as storage of all info will likely be online and vulnerable. MSN will likely have paid add ons, while Google’s will likely be all for free. SMBs will use Google’s online office, Enterprise will use MSN.

Here's Google's announcement of their acquisition: Writely so
…a collaborative word processor that runs in a web browser. Well, as of Monday, I'm happy to say that I, and the rest of the Writely team, are now part of Google.
link

And here's a quick peek at MSN's embryonic online office, thanks to ClickZ:
Peek at Microsoft's Office Live

Garrett French - MarketSmart Interactive | permalink | +marktd |

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