Google launches Docs & Spreadsheets

Google Docs & Spreadsheets, a web-based word processor and spreadsheet application, was announced by the company today. Though the product is still in beta form, it is available for free, and aims to make collaborating on work projects easier for all involved. Writely, Google's existing word processor, and Google Spreadsheets, its equivalent of Microsoft's Excel, have been combined to create Docs & Spreadsheets. Users require an internet connection, a compatible browser and a Google account to be able to access and edit a collaborative document. Google intends Docs & Spreadsheets to solve problems that arise when more than one individual works on the same document, only to find that another person has been making different changes to their copy of the document. By offering a facility for several people to edit a document that is securely stored in a single location these bad working practices can be avoided, Google said. Office productivity software is a market that is dominated by Microsoft but it only offers this sort of document sharing ability to companies who use its Sharepoint software. However, Google Docs & Spreadsheets is free and files can be imported and exported in a variety of different file formats. But Google is ambiguous as to whether it sees itself competing with Microsoft in this area. "There are many products in the productivity-software space... and Google Docs and Spreadsheets is intended to both complement these existing solutions and introduce new ones," the company said. http://docs.google.com

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