Rivalry is always bitter with each one jealously guarding his technologies and market segment. In the process the end user is the one to suffer. This has been happening on Google Docs where you could not edit the ever popular MS office files. Now Google pours a drop of oil or two on troubled waters, offering users of MS Office to easily edit documents in Google Docs without the need for file conversions. This is welcome news for Google Drive users who, according to the announcement made at Google’s ongoing I/O, can use smartphones or Google Drive to access and straightaway edit MS Office in Google Docs natively. The best part is that changes are saved to the original file and not to any converted file that you have to reconvert again.
Something like this had to happen sooner or later given the popularity of both MS Office and Google Docs and perhaps this is fuelled by Google’s acquisition of QuickOffice in 2012. In any case users can breathe a sight of relief and become more productive. Google Docs also is updated to incorporate tracking changes, a useful feature in collaborative work, in the same way it is done in MS Word. The bunch of goodies includes mobile support for Google Slides that you can use to create presentations similar to Power Point on Android or iOS devices. There is still more. Google Drive for Work is a new premium offering that allows file encryption for files stored on Google servers, document auditing and activity APIs to track and monitor usage, all at a low price of USD 10 per month, which includes unlimited storage.
