Microsoft Disputes Google's Claim That Office 2010 Lacks Collaboration

Microsoft NSDQ: MSFT has responded to Google's claims that Office 2010 and Web Apps lack of cloud-based collaboration capabilities available in Google NSDQ: GOOGle Apps and Google Docs.

"Microsoft delivers the most productive experience and we have results to prove it," said Tracy Overby, Senior Marketing Manager for Microsoft Office Product Management Group, said in an e-mail to CRN. "After more than a decade delivering collaboration solutions that our customers trust us to meet their needs."

But Google argues that Microsoft Office 2010, Microsoft updated productivity software suite, and Web Apps, cloud-based components of Office, cloud versions of Word, Excel and PowerPoint, gives only limited real-time cooperation capabilities in the cloud. Most of the common features that Google says is only available via desktop versions of Office 2010 programs.

To achieve this level of cooperation, but do you? Ll have to rent one of two technologies: SharePoint 2010, which Microsoft released at the same time this week to 2010 Office or SkyDrive, free online storage space offered on Windows Live.

The good news for companies that take bait is that SharePoint 2010 has a lot to offer in addition to support for real-time collaboration.

Among key features is the ability to take SharePoint content offline, personal user profiles that mimics what can be done on popular social networking sites, social bookmarking, which provides an opportunity for web users to judge the content, people search and access to FAST new search service for SharePoint, which offers advanced filtering options for search.