Office politics
The top of the tech pile has a wonderful triangle of mutual animosity these days, with Microsoft, Apple and Google all trying to take business from each other and snarling at the other two with equal venom.
For the first half of this year it's been all about Apple and Google as they jostle for position in the mobile Internet market. Microsoft announced its new mobile OS back in February, but it's of little consequence until it makes an appearance at the end of this year.
Microsoft does have one or two other products, however, and amid all the fuss about mobile there are still a few zillion businesses that need PC operating systems and productivity software. Microsoft addressed the former with the launch of Windows 7 last year and today is officially launching Office 2010.
Let's not forget that before Google got all mobile on us, it was perceived as the greatest threat to Microsoft - especially to Office through Google Docs. Google's model of offering productivity suites as a SaaS proposition is, in principle, both cheaper and more flexible than Microsoft's boxed product model. It must be stressed, however, that we expect Office 2010 to have strongly cloudy flavour to it too.
In acknowledgement of the massive inertia in Microsoft's favour, Google is urging existing Office users not to upgrade to 2010, but to Google Docs. It's emphasising compatibility with legacy Office file types and has published the table below to illustrate why you should consider Google Docs.
Google has also tweaked Gmail today, with the announcement that - as long as you're using the Chrome browser, of course - you can now drag an image straight from your PC into a Gmail message without having to muck about with attaching it. Also, lest we think it has taken its eye of the mobile ball, Google announced a few additions to Google Maps for Android, including biking directions.
