Microsoft Office V's Google Docs

We are now starting to work on spreadsheets in Google Docs as well as in Microsoft Office (Excel), so I wanted to get a feel of how many people were using Google Docs or other spreadsheets instead of Microsoft Office's Excel.

Is there a particular reason you chose the package you chose?

As a Mac fan I have never had the opportunity (or real need) to use any Microsoft products except the dreadful Publisher. Am very happy with Google Docs.

Carl, I am in the process of migrating to Google Docs, but still predominantly Office. Why?

Well, a recent laptop theft*, coupled with a realisation that I was still on Office 2003 got me focused on cloud storage. It also got me focused on "free"! In addition, given my remote location, it will be no surprise that I am constantly needing to send copy documents to others. By using Google Docs, I avoid clogging up my email with large attachements because I can simply share the file with the recipient.

Not sure yet as to whether overall functionality will match Office, but no doubt it will progress with time.

(* I was fully backed up and operational without missing a hearbeat!)

I'm a huge Google Docs fan and our business currently runs through a Google Apps infrastructure.

You can't do everything in a Google Doc that you can do in Excel so unforutnately we still need to use Excel for some larger spreadsheets. 

Also when you mention a spreadsheet people seem to automatically thik Excel particularly in a business context. I have had people respond to a Google Doc by asking to have an excel version so it's not quite at that mass adoption phase.

I have been using Google Docs for quite some time now because it's easy to share, edit and extract data from. However, there are still functions that MS Office can perform and Google Docs can't (as Barry mentioned above). So I say, it depends on the size of data I am handling :)

My peripatetic lifestyle makes Google Docs (now with Google Drive) an obviousl choice for me. No matter which device I am using (Windows PC, Windows Laptop, Ipad and Android phone) my documents are there and can be accessed and shared via a browser.

Big fan.

We will be moving to Google Docs as a way of organising and sharing are work online. We were using Basecamp for the same purpose. A lot of our suppliers use Google Docs. Are there any good training guides available online?

Love Google docs and use it for everything, even managed to delete MS office and outlook completley from my PC and have never looked back.

Its an easy choice for anybody on the move, and needing instant access to data!

The collaboration tools ar priceless for us too! 

We became a Google Apps partner 4 months ago, so now enjoy helping others migrate over to Google Apps :)

Wow, more fans of Google Docs than I thought there would be

Time to look at the services I offer again

If you remember Carl i did sent you a message a few weeks ago asking how much you did on Google, and as i said we will be looking to take on alot more Apps customers very soon so your services will come in very handy! 

I have a small bookkeeping software company that used to be based on MS Excel, but I was finding that clients were asking for alternatives as new pc's don't have MS Office installed. I switched all of the spreadsheets to GoogleDocs, and then also switched every document from another company onto GoogleDocs...I love it! If my clients need help, we can both view their spreadsheet at the same time, and i can show them exactly how to fix their issue while also talking them thourgh it. 

The only MS product I now use is Outlook.

I only need a basic office package, OpenOffice is perfect for me, and it's powerful enough to open the latest Microsoft Office format. I do produce lots of reports, especially in PDF format. The result is professional, especially as the majoirty of my clients are corporate and solicitors. I'm surprised it's not more widely used, especially as it's free!

I may regret sticking my head above the parapet here but I’m going to do it anyway.

Personally I am Microsoft born and bred and have built my career around their products and even had a successful period working with them so may not be the most objective person. I much prefer Microsoft Office and always have; it’s simple and easy to us perhaps because I have always used it.

Now don’t get me wrong I did try Google Docs and my company is a Google Docs partner as well as a Microsoft Partner but I have noticed a trend with our customers. There is an increase in enquires from our growing customer needing consultancy service to move from Google Docs to Microsoft Office 365.

They are finding people coming in for interview for all levels of jobs are very vocal in the fact that people aren’t using Microsoft products.

We had one extreme example where a Finance Director made it a condition of employment that he was able to use all Microsoft products; his argument being his Job is difficult enough I don’t need to learn a new set of technology.

I would like to know the size of your business and industry sector if you are using Google docs? 

I have to use all of them.  Keeping up to date with software is a nightmare.  My clients use many varying bits of software, so I can not stick to the one.

However, I have yet to find any of my clients that would want to move over.  In the larger corporates they are still anywhere between office xp and 2010.  Many of them will not put their trust in the cloud, they struggle allowing smart phones to access emails etc...  In another 5 years or so, I could see some of them using it but it takes a long time for them to make the decision and then implement it.