A History of the Google Office

August 28, 2006

In describing Google Apps for Your Domain as "Google Office", I was somewhat deliberately making reference to all the conversations that have happened in the past around Google doing an office suite or even an entire operating systems. Here, then, are some selected posts on the subject in the past.

What a fantastic idea. If Google created a branded version of Firebird (with a few usability and stability tweaks) and made it available through google.com, promoting it in the same way they have been promoting their toolbar, I am sure it would be a sure-fire hit. It's simply a better browser than IE, and while most internet users have probably never even considered trying a different browser Google have the kind of brand recognition and trustworthy image that could convince people to try something new - it worked with the Google toolbar after all.

Imagine the effect this kind of development would have on the browser industry. IE would suddenly have a viable competitor! Web sites would be encouraged to support standards, Microsoft would practically be forced to start developing IE again, and the internet would start moving forward again.

Google Office (Goffice?) will be built in, with all your data stored locally, backed up remotely, and available to whomever it needs to be (SubEthaEdit-style collaboration on Word/Excel/PowerPoint-esque documents is only the beginning). Email, shopping, games, music, news, personal publishing, etc.; all the stuff that people use their computers for, it's all there.

There's lots of good thinking here, and of course it makes sense to finish by pointing out So Much Fanfare, So Few Hits, BusinessWeek's look at how Google doesn't dominate many areas it enters.

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3 comments by: Kingsley Joseph • • Cameron Barrett

Previously: Office 2.0 Conference

Next: More conversation about the Google Office

Kingsley Joseph Author Profile Page

Posted August 29, 2006 08:35

Have you noticed how predictions of what Google will do next have gotten smaller and smaller? There are no more posts about the Google OS for example. Most of the predictions these days seems to be about who they will buy next or what their SMB bundle will be.

Simon Fell’s comment is scary good though.

Anonymous

Posted August 29, 2006 09:45

Have you noticed how predictions of what Google will do next have gotten smaller and smaller? There are no more posts about the Google OS for example. Most of the predictions these days seems to be about who they will buy next or what their SMB bundle will be.

Simon Fell’s comment is scary good though.

Cameron Barrett

Posted September 5, 2006 22:32

People have been talking about Mozilla as an web-based “Application Platform” for years:

  1. Salon (02/10/2000): For some Web developers, that’s only the beginning of the excitement. As an open-source project built around principles of modularity, Mozilla includes components, such as its “Gecko” layout engine (the code that actually interprets the HTML on a Web page and displays it on your computer monitor), that can be taken by themselves and incorporated into any kind of Web-distributed application, like a Web-based spreadsheet or word processor. The Mozilla project is morphing into a tool kit for Web developers…
  2. CamWorld (03/03/2000): Instead, I see Mozilla being a very valuable web application environment, allowing all kinds of truly customized web-based services that are much more difficult to implement with the closed nature of Internet Explorer and previous versions of Netscape.
  3. LinuxWorld (March 2000): The promise of an Internet-based office suite

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