Charles Kraus: Google Cloud Connect plug-in connects Microsoft Office to your Google Docs

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Google Cloud Connect plug-in connects Microsoft Office to your Google Docs

As fast as Google Docs has been growing, many people are still unwilling to abandon their desktop office software and take to the cloud. Well, Google just made it easier with Cloud Connect, a new Microsoft Office plug-in that connects Word, PowerPoint and Excel to Google Docs. That means anything you do in Office will be saved in the cloud using your Google Docs account.

Cloud Connect actually works where Microsoft's online collaboration software doesn't (yet). For example, Cloud Connect works across different versions of Office, and includes Excel support. Also, anyone who's shared files using Google Docs knows how easy it is compared to setting up SharePoint.

Instead of forcing the switch to Google's own Web apps, Google is letting businesses have their Office and share it too. Sounds like a solid strategy to convince Office users that Google is the way to go for online collaboration, before Microsoft can even finish getting its cloud services off the ground.

Right now, a preview of Cloud Connect is only available via limited signup to Google Apps for Business customers, but it will be available for everyone -- individual users included -- when it launches.

Filed under: Office, Productivity, Google