Google launching it’s Online Office Suite –What’s the Catch?

Categories: Social Media, Web ToolsPosted on August 28th, 2006

I just signed up for Google’s office suite that is being announced and released this week. Scoble wonders if Google is hiding information from bloggers, as they told the traditional press on Friday before sharing with bloggers. Often, Google will give a sneak peak to bloggers as a way to get the word out. This time they’ve done the opposite.

Questions Raised:

What if I need more than the 2gigs of data storage they provide?
What will they do with this data?
Will it be shared with others?
Will it be used to learn more about me and my communication style?
What’s the catch? I know there’s a catch.

I knew this was the future –let’s get rid of desktop applications when possible and just use browsers.

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This entry was posted on Monday, August 28th, 2006 at 7:54 am and is filed under Social Media, Web Tools. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Jeremiah,

One other reason I see why Google is doing this (”Google Apps for Your Domain”) is to keep up with Microsoft in the web-based Business Productivity arena. Microsoft came out with Windows Live Custom Domains early this year (see https://domains.live.com/). And they look similar!

mikeg

Posted by Michael Gobaco on August 28th, 2006 at 8:52 am

Thanks Michael

Seems like the Google offering has a Calendar feature that MS doesn’t offer.

Posted by jeremiah_owyang on August 28th, 2006 at 8:57 am

I’m not sure I’d call going to one outlet first over another outlet “hiding”.

Heck, if Google is having to choose who to release to first, then blogging has become “just another source”…which means legitimacy. That’s a good thing, not a bad thing like the use of “hiding” assumes.

Posted by Jake on August 28th, 2006 at 9:39 am

I rolled out in April a Gmail for Domains for a political campaign in Hawai’i and it’s worked out great for that specific purpose.

If I were to use to use it for a small company, my big concern other than privacy would be backup: there’s no easy way to back up emails.

Posted by Keith Kamisugi on August 28th, 2006 at 1:33 pm

Be sure to read the fine print about privacy and data ownership.

Posted by Dennis McDonald on August 28th, 2006 at 1:48 pm

I have to admit that at first I liked the idea of moving away from desktop applications to browser apps, but after my first experience with Meebo, I am contemplating. Meebo is like AIM, but it combines google talk, msn, aim, yahoo, icq all in one browser. What’s the downfall? Its rather sluggish, when IE or firefox is crashing Meebo doesn’t work, and it lacks the “cool” features of a desktop app. Now this is just my observation, but from what Google has already launched (google talk, calendar, etc), I only fear that the browser apps will be too simple for our tech savy users.

Posted by Christopher Salazar on August 28th, 2006 at 8:50 pm

I don’t think there’s a catch. Has there ever been a catch with Google offering prior? I just think it’s an offensive maneuver into a young marketplace.