[justgold79]

What about The Google Cloud Connect plugin? With it you can edit your documents that are in Google Docs directly from Office.

[RicBretschneider]

onsiteone, on 26 April 2012 - 09:46 PM, said:

Your initial comparison with OpenOffice on this thread is not within good context. You are comparing a pay-for product designed for the use case and budget of corporations (that coincidentally is sold to consumers) to a FREE product that is built for the use case and budget of consumers. In my opinion, Google Drive, Google Docs, OpenOffice, are marketed to the individuals, families and small business who need not the servers and MS-centric "tracked workflows". And in this context, Google Drive, Google Docs, OpenOffice works great especially since it's free. Also since there is no server to maintain (exchange/sharepoint), there is no 3rd party contract required for support expenses.

A better comparison would be to pit OpenOffice with Office 2010 Starter (both free). Or the full MS Office software with another pay-for office productivity software (both cost $$ and installed on local system). Or to compare the web office 360 with Google Docs (both free and web based).

Actually, you made this into an OpenOffice&OtherClones vs Office conversation. I was responding to the incorrect statement condemning Office documents formats as proprietary and undocumented. They are neither. They're among the best documented file formats out there, a real accomplishment for such a complex application suite.

And yeah, I'd pit Office 2010 Starter against any other suite for productivity and ease of use. I've seen enough tests to feel confident that Office would win. And Office 360 is more feature rich and doesn't lose data when editing Office documents the way Google Docs does. I've spent thousands of hours on that work, and I can show you specifically where the imitators fail to deliver. Google Docs does great multiuser editing - that's one that I'll give them, much better than Office. But most people wouldn't put a complex Office document up there without keeping a backup of the original once they understand what GD does to their files. That, I believe, is where this thread started.

[onsiteone]

RicBretschneider, on 30 April 2012 - 08:48 PM, said:

But most people wouldn't put a complex Office document up there without keeping a backup of the original once they understand what GD does to their files.

Hmm.. if you wouldn't mind to clarify the terms you used, "most people" and "complex office document"? Here's one way I could construe the above sentence toward one extreme, so please correct me:

"But 12% of the U.S. population wouldn't put an complex Office document up there without keeping a backup of the original once they understand what GD does to their files."

Obviously I made up a low number there - but what do you believe is a closer ballpark percentage? I can argue that very few people have concerns about complex office documents, thus GD's low fidelity is enough for, say 90% of the world population. Of course that 90% is just a guess, but my point is that it's higher than the need for Microsoft's own complex doc features.

"I can show you specifically where the imitators fail to deliver."

Please do show as I'd like to be familiar with those complex features that "most people" are looking for. Thanks!

[RicBretschneider]

onsiteone, on 01 May 2012 - 12:02 AM, said:

RicBretschneider, on 30 April 2012 - 08:48 PM, said:

But most people wouldn't put a complex Office document up there without keeping a backup of the original once they understand what GD does to their files.

Hmm.. if you wouldn't mind to clarify the terms you used, "most people" and "complex office document"? Here's one way I could construe the above sentence toward one extreme, so please correct me:

"But 12% of the U.S. population wouldn't put an complex Office document up there without keeping a backup of the original once they understand what GD does to their files."

Obviously I made up a low number there - but what do you believe is a closer ballpark percentage? I can argue that very few people have concerns about complex office documents, thus GD's low fidelity is enough for, say 90% of the world population. Of course that 90% is just a guess, but my point is that it's higher than the need for Microsoft's own complex doc features.

"I can show you specifically where the imitators fail to deliver."

Please do show as I'd like to be familiar with those complex features that "most people" are looking for. Thanks!

Well counselor, I guess I should have anticipated your exacting response and simply said that if they understood what happens to their documents with respect to being able to use them again in Office applications, I believe most people would avoid keeping their Office-created documents exclusively in Google Docs. It's an opinion based on what I know about reuse within home and office.

With respect to data loss in opening Office applications within the clones, I point you to the latter pages in the Open Office document
http://www.openoffic...haringFiles.pdf
Although the author tries to put a soft light on it, it's pretty abysmal. Basically many features in the older document structures and any advances made in Office documents since '97 are lost, munged into lower resolution representations, or just improperly represented. Specifics such as complete rows and columns within Excel spreadsheets, narrations in PowerPoint, 3 point gradient fills in graphics, numerous animations and transitions, you can read that for yourself. What isn't said is that any new functions added to Office documents (like Sections in PowerPoint, Sparklines in Excel, the list goes on and on...) those little tidbits of user effort are also lost when opened in the outdated clone formats.

Five minutes of Googling can give you additional specifics if you're up to it.

[CobusduPlessis]

Robb Henshaw was right. I've gone back to using Dropbox.

[dosuibhne]

Google Drive is proving disasterous for multiple collaborators on the same excel spreadsheet. I have tried having the spreadsheet shared so that different users can use the same spreadsheet at the same time usually they will be editing different sheets. However the spreadsheet will not allow other users edit at the same time giving the message they can view as read only but not edit. then seconds later says you can now edit. But if you do you cant save the data without saving as a new file. This is disasterous for me as the file needs to remain as one. It always worked on a network as a shared file but it doesn't on Google drive. Major drawback