A few minutes ago Google unveiled Google Docs & Spreadsheets, which will officially be announced at the Office 2.0 conference in a few hours. The new offering from Google combines their acquisition of Writely with their Spreadsheets product in an effort to tightly integrate the toolset.
You can now choose to create a new document, in which case your taken to Google Docs, or start a spreadsheet, where your taken to Google Spreadsheets. Notable, you can also upload an existing one — such as a Word or Excel file — or even e-mail it to your unique Google-specified e-mail address (this was clearly borrowed from Writely, but Google allows you to upload a Spreadsheet now as well).
This also marks a change of interface for Writely which now looks like a true ‘blue’ Google product but with features that are a bit unique to find in one. It’s easy enough to understand, and there’s no doubt this is aimed at the typical office user.
The latest addition to Google’s ‘web-office,’ this fills in another gap: Microsoft Word. While we’re at it, let’s look at how many Office (Professional) products Google has replaced so far — making it free and online for everyone to use:
- Word – Google Docs
- Excel – Google Spreadsheets
- Outlook – GMail
- Outlook Calendar – Google Calendar
- FrontPage/Publisher – Google Page Creator
Still to go:
- Powerpoint
So, this begs the question: is Empressr or Thumbstacks next?
[via Google Watch]
[tags]Google, Google Docs & Spreadsheets, Writely, Web Office[/tags]
