Interview With Google Docs Product Manager Dave Girouard

I just came across this great article over at cnet. Google Docs Product Manager Dave Girouard was interviewed and he basically tells consumers not to upgrade to Microsoft Office 2010, instead use an old version of Office and complement it with Google Docs. Below is a preview of the article (I love Daves' comparison of desktop vs. online apps):

"What is really the goal with Google Docs? I imagine it is not to take the existing types of tools and bring those exact same features online and stop there?


Girouard: We're really creating a platform (where) everybody really can contribute to the Web, whether that means in the confines of a company or as a consumer to their family. I think that pretty core to all of our apps-related services is (allowing) everybody to contribute and work together to create content. The essence of our platform, and I think of cloud computing in general, is about people working together as opposed to an individual being productive on their own.I think that's what the PC era was about, a single person on a single computer doing things you couldn't do before, like creating a fancy brochure, you would have otherwise had to go to a printer before. That was really compelling in the 80s and 90s. I think this era of computing is about how people get things done together. The Web is that platform to enable that."

Microsoft and Facebook Partner Up With Docs.com

At the f8 conference about 2 weeks ago, facebook announced a way of sharing Microsoft Office documents, spreadsheets, and presentation files named Docs.com (not very original). It is very similar to Google Docs; documents can be created, edited, and shared (through facebook) online, but so far there is no simultaneous editing in Docs.com, which is a very powerful feature of Google Docs (and Zoho Docs). Check out the video below for more details.