For some reason this issue’s been going around and around in my head. Here are some of my thoughts on why Google WON’T or SHOULDN’T do an Office suite or OS:
11. They are perpetually in “beta”. It’s a wall to hide behind, and it’s one that simply won’t work in the mass market.
10. They have a very poor customer service record.
9. Their brand of making customers do things the “Google way” (ie: Gmail can’t delete items, for example) will alienate the mass market.
8. They have no relationships with hardware compnies like Dell that would preload such an OS.
7. They have poor relationships with developers who would develop other apps (even just web-based ones) for the OS.
6. The cost of delivering call centres, and the brand hit when the call centres fail, would be astronomical.
5. The Google infrastructure simply isn’t prepared to handle 100,000,000 people using applications full-time and each requesting hundreds of thousands of pages a day. Until Big Daddy finally comes online, it’s effectively at capacity right now and the cost of building new infrastructure to support billions more page loads a day (without interruption, without losing data, without slowdowns) would be huge.
4. Google isn’t a software company. No software product they’ve released has gained mass acceptance. Ever.
3. They don’t do customer-facing products.
2. Google’s model of “deliver something, then fix it until it works over a period of 1-3 years” simply won’t fly with an OS or Office suite.
1. The lag time between producing the software and getting anywhere near enough traction for it to actually bring in serious income would be years. Google is not a patient company, if something doesn’t work immediately they ditch it.
In the end, they don’t do software, they don’t do support, they don’t do customer-facing tools or technologies or services. In order to deliver an OS or Office suite succesfully to the masses, you would need a base in people’s homes, in people’s lives and in people’s heads. Google pushing an Office suite, to most consumers, is about as logical as Ford making bicycles. Sure, they’re the same mechanics, but to the vast majority of consumers, Google is a verb for “search”.
The jump from “search” to “replacement for MS Office” is a huge one. And it’s one that I simply don’t see happening in the next 2-3 years (happy to be wrong though, I think there is huge room for innovation in both the OS and Office space).
Spot on, Jeremy. I’ve been posting about this too today on three of my blogs. Google Pack is the closest they’ll get to an OS, and much of it was developed by others. Google Video Store is getting close to their real aim: IP-TV, with person-facing ads served up from Google’s own massive search presence. No one gets anywhere near them in this arena. Certainly not Microsoft or Apple.
Google’s future lies in making advertising work like it’s never worked before, and using its search technology to do it.
You are quite mistaken, my friend. When a product is free, customer support cannot be expected and very likely will not be needed. Google’s infrastructure is capable of expanding to meet any reasonalbe capacity requirements (think video streaming), and don’t forget they have their own fiber optic cable spanning the North American continent. As for revenue, I would imagine they will continue to place ads next to any wordprocessing documents with the right key words, just like with mail.
Luke: You dont’ think customers will have support issues with an Office suite or OS? It currently takes Google almost 2 weeks to respond to Gmail support issues. And that’s just email.
And, really, if it takes that long, and there’s no expectation of support, who exactly are you expecting to switch? Regular people who are already confused by computers? I dont’ think so. Certainly not companies who live or die by their support agreements.
Also, video is nothing. How about Google Analytics, which is STILL slow, months after launch? Or Google Reader, which is also plagued by issues more than 6 months after launch? If they can’t get these simple apps right for stability, I simply am not ready to trust them with an OS or Office suite.
And, as far as fiber, how much capacity, exactly, do you feel the latent fiber network has? If we don’t know, we can’t say it’ll be enough, now, can we?
What’s the difference between #11 and #2?
It’s two different mentalities. They play themselves out in similar ways. Google could make something non-beta, but still be “tinkering” with it, for example. Not sure if this is a distinction which only exists in my head though!
10. They have a very poor customer service record.
And where did you get it from? :p I personally have much better experience with Google Customer care than I have with Microsoft customer service.
Always a little biased against google, aren’t we Jeremy?
Lord: I’m glad your experience with Google is good. Almost everyone I talk to, though, can’t call in to Google (which is bad). Typically can’t find very good help info on Google’s sites (which is bad). And when they email, often have to wait 1-2 weeks for a real response (or if they get a response faster it’s a canned one, and it takes 1-2 weeks to get resolution).
Checking Webmaster World for people asking “how long does it take to get an answer from Google” should confirm this as a fairly broadly visible problem.
Again, though, I’m glad you have better experiences.
As far as Microsoft, I gave them a call last night about my Xbox Live Gamertag. Someone picked up in less than a minute. My issue was resolved in 5 minutes. I called last week about an Office licensing issue, and it took longer, about 20 minutes, but it was a more complicated issue as well.
Microsoft support is typically better than most other companies I call (cell phone, home phone, cable, hydro, etc). Google is typically far worse.
But, this is all opinion, so take it with a truckload of salt and feel free to be cynical
But, this is all opinion, so take it with a truckload of salt and feel free to be cynical
Fair enough.
But to be honest, there have been times when I have got response from Google in just a few hours. The most I’ve had to wait is 2 days because a Sunday fell in and my problem was trivial.
I haven’t read those “how long does it take to get an answer from Google” threads (as I don’t visit WW) but if it is about ‘why did you kick my site out of your rankings’ then it doesn’t really sound like a problem.
Anyone who has contacted Google support for AdWords or AdSense would tell you that their support has been quick and clear. Even the support sites are not that bad.
BTW it isn’t Google which does indeed send canned responses (though they do customize it to an extent where it solves your problem), even Microsoft does the same .
Lord: I’m not defending Microsoft support
I simply don’t see Google as having the tools or experience or track record necessary to launch a consumer tool that is designed to be used by hundreds of millions of home, regular joe, can’t find the USB port, users.
At least not in the next few years.
Google’s got some crazy smart people, so I’m not saying it’s impossible. I just believe it’d require a cultural shift, an economic shift, a focus shift and in every way a recreation of the company. This isn’t “Apple to iPod” kind of shift, this is a massive one that I just don’t see happening anytime soon, if ever.
Difficult - Yes!
Impossible - No!
But well, discussing about it is a moot point as only time will tell if they ever come out with an OS / Office Suite.
I work for a company with 150k+ employees worldwide in a universally Windows dektop and server environment. Each client comes with MS Office Pro 2003 and it’s a shoe in for approval for any user requesting Visio or Project 2003 Pro.
When I call Microsoft for support I don’t have a good time. If MS can get away with that with Enterprise customers on a regular basis, surely Google can at least maintain the status quo (not that I think they should or would, but as a point of comparison).
I do have to agree with the typical MS bias that I’ve grown used to over the years, Jer.
Now one really positive thing that can come, and probably will, with competition in this area is that both sides, including MS, will get better at doing the little things for their customers - like support issues.
> #9 … (ie: Gmail can’t delete items, for example)…
Gmail really can delete mails though. I already read this somewhere else, but try and click Trash, and read the first button…
JW: Cool! That’s definitely new (as is the “delete after 30 days”). The fact that it took this long (this wasn’t there 3 months ago when I did a review on Gmail for InformIT) is odd, but I’m very, very glad it’s there now
Google’s stance before was always “it doesn’t add to your space limit, it’s always searchable, so it’s a good thing to never delete”.