Kevin talks a bit more about the notion of a Google Office Box (GOB) which was first brought up by Mark Lubischer in the comments of the last post (I first heard it there, I'm sure Kevin came up with it on his own).
I think this idea has more plausibility, but I still don't know if it's a money maker for them. Here's why:
It still doesn't address the primary issue which is training. Saving $50K a year doesn't mean anything if you have to retrain 10,000 workers.
It's not a game changer. Spreadsheets/word processors have been around for some time. This is just a spreadsheet/word processor with less functionality.
Google has never shown much prowess at providing customer service. Business users need LOTS of customer service. Many folks seem to underestimate the challenges of a B2C company going B2B.
I still have my doubts about performance, especially with large complex spreadsheets.
Microsoft still has tremendous leverage because of Windows. They can package deals of Windows/Office and Google has no counter.
Will I have access to the GOB when I'm on a plane? in a train? on a bus? in the park?
When people at other corporations send me complex Microsoft based documents which the GOB cannot correctly import since it lacks the equivalent features what will I do?
I'm not saying it's impossible to pull off, but we need to see a lot more before thinking it even has a shot at success. It might also be helpful if they actually stand behind any product they do eventually release instead of hiding behind the beta label.
Maybe I'm dense but I still have exactly zero idea what the heck Google is doing. OK they're building an "operating system" for the web. They're building "Office" for the web. I just don't get why????
Google makes all it's money from search ads. Free Office products won't help it generate revenue. I also highly doubt that ads in the office products will lead to any serious revenue. Search ads work because I'm actively searching for something and an ad helps me find it quicker. Showing me an ad while I'm editing my spreadsheet isn't going to work because I'm not in the same frame of mind when editing a spreadsheet vs searching.
Second, I doubt this will have any true impact on Microsoft. GE isn't going to tell all their employees to go use Google Spreadsheet and oh yeah if you have problems ask the nonexistent Google tech support. Come on that's now how the real world works.
So even if this did hurt Microsoft I don't see how it helps Google. Any ideas?
"Well, the inevitable is starting to happen - a few new web startups are starting to close up shop as they find that building an application is a lot easier than getting users to try it out and keep coming back" - TechCrunch
Um, of course it's not really the fact that they can't get people to try it out, it's that they build things people don't want and never wanted. They don't solve any problems people have and they're merely technology showcases. Are we supposed to feel sad these things are going under? I think not. Better they go under now while the repercussions are low than later when a new bubble forms and they drag the rest of us down with them.
It appears I'm not the only one coming under generic form spam over the past few days. I caught this post by Sam Ruby the other day. It appears to be a totally generic form submission bot, but it's pretty good. It's been hitting the HelpSpot forums daily and making lots of work for me :-(
My solution will be to add Bayesian filtering for the forums into HelpSpot. It's already used for email and should work pretty well for the forums, though I'll need to use a new table to store it to keep the word lists separate since it's a different type of spam than email and I've noticed a different set of words/links being used.
I'm curious why more weblogs don't use Bayesian filters. They work really well because at the end of the day the spammers must link to their bogus sites and the filter uses that to weed them out. It's pretty easy to code. The hardest part is figuring out the odd Lisp language Graham used to prototype it.
I haven't run this report yet so I thought it might be interesting. I guess it's pretty much what I expected. International sales were very strong during the first few months and have since been overtaken by US sales. An interesting note though is that several of the largest sales have been to international customers.
*[This image was lost to time in my blog transition]*
I'll be participating in a round table discussion called 'Startup 101' being put on by the nextNY organization. If you're in the NY area and thinking of starting a business or just getting started with one then you should signup on the wiki. I'm the MicroISV representative if you will, but they'll be some VC/Angel guys as well as other slightly larger startups.
"I know that "no specs" is very big right now, with high-profile designers insisting that you don't need to do any kind of documenting or specs, that you just need to make a few sketches and then start writing HTML prototypes, re-writing it until the customer likes it. This sounds suspiciously like the code-and-fix model, which we all know is garbage. Even worse, it sounds like undisciplined, hippy-dippy, egocentric, "I am an artiste" thinking. In fact, I dare say that it is non-design. For God's sake, people, we're in a pseudo-engineering profession. Act like it. Plan your work ahead of time, at least the important parts of it."
I'd also add that the no spec folks tend to generally be talking about in house projects with very small teams. I've done no spec work with consulting clients and it's a total nightmare.
Our buddy Kevin is selling a TurboGears DVD full of screencasts to help support his continued work on TurboGears. If you're a Python guy you should throw him a little support. I've already purchased the supporter level package so I get my name and logo on the DVD AND a free toolbox. Pretty cool!
I love the wedding space for ISV apps. Lots of money spent there and very few good solutions. The new http://www.weddingsbyadam.com/ site is a great idea. Wish I thought of it! My other favorite wedding app is the mighty http://www.perfecttableplan.com/