Google, MS fight on in war of online collaboration

Microsoft and Google are at it yet again. While one releases a way to access desktop documents on the web, the other introduces a way to take them offline.

For Anjali Chawla, a mother of two kids, planning a family reunion seemed like a mammoth task.

So what did she do? Anjali made 10 family members from around the world login to Microsoft Office Live.

Office Live is an online desktop software, which lets users view, edit and share documents, making it easy to coordinate everything.

For Anjali, it was way better than chats and email she used earlier.

“It would be crazy, I would always have to ask them to reconfirm. It was extremely difficult to coordinate with family because of being different time zones,” Anjali says.

But it’s not just her. Corporate, students and teachers can all use the online tool to collaborate on projects, even if they're miles from each other.

The catch — it works only if you have Microsoft Office on your personal computer.

“It’s targetted at everyone who uses Microsoft Office. We have 500 million users, so we see great potential,” Manager, Microsoft, Siddharth Mangharam says.

Of course, Google Docs and Spreadsheets has been around for a year and it does the same thing.

Now, with Google gears you can save all that online stuff to your desktop, and continue with the final touchups even if you're offline — on a flight for example.

“There are certain things users want. Wherever they are, they should be able to access their info. Info can't be held hostage to devices,” MD Google Shailesh Rao says.

While Google Docs is completely online, Microsoft Office Live works best with its offline counterpart. And while Google does have more storage space, only Microsoft Office Live lets you upload picture or PDF files. More than one user can edit the file at the same time using Google but Microsoft only lets one user edit at a time.

But the real fight isn't between the software — it’s in the idea behind them. Will you soon save and edit all your documents online, the way you use emails right now?

Google's betting you will. Microsoft admits you might eventually, but says the desktop PC will always be king.