Maybe a web-based MS Office is what live.com will turn into, or what Google is slowly putting together. Probably both. Smaller ajax-obsessed development firms are getting in on the act as well. Here’s (count ’em) three Excel replacements. I haven’t tried any of them as the thought of signing up for yet another web-based service is… well, not very appealing. Especially for something I already have in Excel. But Office is pricey, so I can see why Google wants in on the action. More room for AdSense! I will say that I appreciate the way Google has (pretty much) one login for all their tools; they’re close to succeeding where Microsoft’s passport service failed.

Is Microsoft worried about the competition? Probably not…and maybe they shouldn’t be. Open Office didn’t exactly put them out of business. I guess that’s the point. MS Office is the standard and may never be replaced*. Web-based software is great… but not for everything. Ask a lawyer to use Writely instead of Word… it ain’t happening.

*Not saying this like its a good thing.


Written by

Fred Simmons

As a Managing Partner and the Director of User Experience at Gulo, Fred enjoys making website interactions more natural and improving UX design. Outside of work, Fred enjoys golf, BBQ, craft beer, movies where the bad guy wins, comma-separated lists, and talking about himself in the third person.