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Why Google Apps is a big deal

The idea that Google Apps is somehow going to replace MS Office is silly. That’s not the point. After all, PC’s didn’t kill mainframes. Mainframes are still around, but look at what PC’s brought about.

As MaisonBisson nicely puts it, the key to all this is the change from “formatting single-author-print-it-and-file-it-(then forget it) documents” to tools that support collaboration throughout the life of the document. Google Apps is the start of the “evolution of office technology and communication, moving beyond the notion computers as elaborate typewriters (which happen to be networked), to applications that truly leverage the network as a business tool.”

Google Docs’ collaboration features are just the beginning. Here is an example:

For example, when Alice in New York enters something into her project, Meredith in Los Angeles can see the changes in real time, and respond to them immediately. Both work from a single document or spreadsheet, instead of having to laboriously compare and consolidate individual documents or spreadsheets, and editing is possible from any computer with internet access — whether in an airport or at a friend’s house.

Google Apps and TIVO

In many ways, getting people to understand what Google Apps is all about reminds me of the early days of Tivo. I was an early Tivo adopter, and immediately fell in love with it. I would wax lyrical about it to anyone who would listen, but I just kept getting blank looks and lots of “I don’t get it” and “I just record what I want on my VCR, so why would I change?”. It’s hard to believe now, but the Tivo concept took a long time to catch on - because it introduced a completely new way of thinking about something that was second nature to everyone.

Sure, you can record programs on you VCR. You can also get from point A to point B in a horse and buggy. But just like Tivo introduced a completely new way of recording TV shows, Google Apps introduces a completely new way to think about productivity solutions.

Google Apps is not a “replacement” for MS Office/Exchange/Sharepoint. Like Tivo, some people will “get it” and move completely to the new platform. Others will try it out and slowly start moving off their desktops and on to the Web. Others will remain MS fundamentalists. But there is a shift happening. No one is buying VCR’s any more.