Discussion on:

Google Apps v. Office 365: Head-to-head comparison of features

::meaning that 99 percent of the principal work that the majority of enterprise users do can be accomplished with either set of applications::

That's actually more like 80% or 85%. If you don't do anything sophisticated, Google Apps will work just fine. It's surprising though, how quickly they 'run out of gas' when you try to do something just a little special.

Your findings are published to an Excel spreadsheet?

We're on the web here buddy. Put your results in a tidy little frame or at least embed the spreadsheet in a web-friendly format.

Or upload it to BuzzData, where people can view the data, and choose to download it, if they want to

...on the excel spreadsheet, who put the tech in techrepublic?

Seems like an incomplete article to me, where's your pick of which is better???

As stated in the intro, Ian is planning a series of posts that compares the full feature set as well as a breakdown on cost (this post covers only productivity apps/doc mgt) . He does make some calls on specific apps/features in the Notes section of the companion chart, based on the size of the business or enterprise in question.

I will be interested to see the comparison with IMAP integration between the two. From my experience 365 doesn't do this very well

When you talk about offline editing, you give the advantage to 365, even though you must buy a desktop license of Office, which is costly. I don't see how this is better than owning Office and using Google Drive.

The same is true for Document sync, and more. In addition to being able to sync documents of ANY type into Google Drive for Business, several vendors like Adobe have already built products that can access the cloud storage directly. Google Docs ... now Google Drive for Business ... is emerging as a way to create a cloud-based file service. 365 remains Office-centric.

The Small/Medium/Large Google Apps/Office 365 Suitable Enterprise Size columns don't specify if one service is better than the other, but rather just states if I feel a feature is appropriate for that size enterprise. Actually, for small and medium enterprises, I might even say that Google Apps is better, because of some of the very reasons you'll suggest. However, when it comes to large enterprises, where certain users may have more advance requirements, Google Apps doesn't make the grade. And even as expensive as Office can be, it makes weight.

BTW, you might want to check back over the course of the next couple of weeks for a post I've written on Google Cloud Storage, which is essentially Google Drive's medium-to-large enterprise equivalent service.

allenfalcon, what you must not realize is that with an E3 plan, only $20/mo, you get 5 copies of Office 2010 Professional to use on different devices. This makes the online versus offline experience the same and seamless. He hasn't even got into the real power of Exchange or SharePoint either.

It's only $20/month/user. That adds up in a hurry when your talking about a small business. We struggle with Office 365 while it has some great feature it has a tendency to be flaky. Over the course this last year we have had several email delay issues and Lync servers crashing. The call in support is horrible you have to talk to two people before you ever get to some one that barely speaks English that is going to help you solve your problems.

The only major drawback to Google Docs I've found is typefaces. I can't use specialty fonts in my documents and am instead restricted to what Google provides. Much of my research uses Greek and Hebrew words and therefore Google Docs can't produce my manuscripts. Does Office 365 do a better job with this, or is it too handicapped?

TNT, you might want to checkout the Google Translate API and start a Google App Engine project for this. Shouldn't be too difficult if you like Google Docs. Office 365 is actually offered in Greek, but unfortunately, not Hebrew. However, given the rise of tech in Israel (not to mention MDX for SQL Server), I wouldn't be surprised if support for the language will come shortly.

Just so we're clear, are you saying that Google Docs has the same functionality as SharePoint Online? Or, put differently, that Google Docs and SharePoint Online are feature-equivalent?

I'm not saying that at all. I'd even go as far to say Google Docs/Sites is from Mars and SharePoint Online is from Venus. However, each has there own advantages, and I'll talk about this is in future posts. I'll most likely match up Google Sites w/ SharePoint online.

You stated that neither could do searches based on the documents. Did you know that you can open SharePoint Online libraries in Windows Explorer. Once you do this you have access to all the features included in Windows Explorer including the search functionality.
You also stated that you needed to have a licensed copy of the Office product to work off line. This is not entirely accurate. You need a licensed copy to integrate the application directly with the online copy. If you download a copy of the document you can edit it with any application suite able to edit Microsoft document types. This includes a number of free application suites. In addition you can have synchronized copies of libraries on your computer using SharePoint Workspace.
In the past Google provided almost exclusively web support for their products if it was not a backend service effecting issue. It is not entirely clear how much has changed from their product information.

What, exactly, is the issue with search in SharePoint Online? The search box lets you search content by keyword (e.g. type in "sharepoint" and it'll return all documents that have sharepoint somewhere in the document), metadata/property (e.g. type in title:sharepoint and it'll return all documents that have sharepoint in the title). Includes PDFs, Word, PowerPoint, Excel, OneNote, Text, HTML, etc. documents. Can do people search, constrain search by site, etc...

SharePoint Online Versioning: can do major, minor (draft version), require (or not) check-out of documents prior to edit, enter version comments, keep only X number of versions, revert to previous version, etc. the CVS/per file comparison of changes the way dev environments do is target app dependent - for example, Word will be happy to provide version differencing, when required. In my experience, the CSV style versioning is rarely used in a document management world - perhaps in legal situations, but then it's better done inside your authoring software anyway.

I hope you take some time to explore the actual implementation of features you're comparing so your readers get the benefit of your experience.

Microsoft Office includes a very powerful relational database, Access. This is partially available in Office 365 in the form of Access Services - but this specifically removes the relational integrity feature that is at the heart of Microsoft Access. It also has a very high cost of ownership because it requires the use of Sharepoint.

Google Docs has no specific database feature. However, Google Spreadsheet does offer a single-table Query facility which partially compensates for this omission.

Neither Office 365 nor Google Docs offer anything like the power of the desktop Microsoft Access application. This serious omission could be fixed if the products were extended.

Google Docs needs a query, report and form-building frontend to the Google Cloud SQL feature already available in Google App Engine (but not in Google Docs). This is a market opportunity.

Microsoft should find a way to integrate Microsoft Access fully into Office 365.

For many enterprises (include local, state, and federal governments and departments), the issue of security (of data, risk, protection, access, hacking, sharing, mining, etc. etc.) is one which has been paid very scant attention to.

I mean, seriously, no version control? SharePoint is best of breed, and SharePoint online packs the same backend framework and extensibility characteristics. Managing and versioning documents is among what it does best.

Do some research before you write bunk articles.

Speaking as a small business owner I strongly disagree that offline access to data is not important. Google fails this. The combination of an Exchange Server + Outlook (or Apple Mail/Calendar/Address Book) is very reassuring. I don't agree with Google's 'Cloud only' approach.
Microsoft Wins.

Mobility : I need/want to be able access my Email/Calendar/Contacts on phones or tablets seamlessly. A hosted exchange account (Exchange Active Sync) gives me the same convenience as a Gmail account _without_ the privacy issues.

I am growing increasingly concerned about preventing privacy 'leakage'.
Google I have trusted up to now but if given a choice, I strongly favour having my data hosted in the privacy of a personal MS Exchange server rather than being constantly rummaged through by Google algorithms.. The recent push by Google to incorporate Google+ into everything just further alienates me, a former big Gmail user.
Microsoft Wins.

File formats : I hate having my data locked up in proprietary formats but since the corporate & government sectors have long since standardised on Office formats I give in and go with that.
I have waited decades for some one to come up with a compelling successful alternative but it didn't happen. I recently tried Google Drive (Formerly Google Docs). I was _horrified_ to find that when I uploaded a file it was automatically converted to some proprietary Google format that no off-line software in the world could make sense of. No thanks!
Microsoft Wins.

Look I hate the big monopolist Microsoft as much as anyone who is old enough to have witness their rapacious business practices for the last 20 odd years but as far as I am concerned Microsoft have a mature product which is suddenly affordable and accessible to mere mortals whereas Google have a nebulous, ever changing, 'not quite there' product which has questionable privacy.

My 2c.

But you're sadly mistaken to think MS is on your side and has your privacy in mind anymore than the Google. You are also mistaken that Google's document formats are any more proprietary - just because they're different than MS docs? The MS apps only work well with their own proprietary formats and usually on one OS platform or browser. So as the PC dwindles, it is even more important to include the devices, tablets, OPEN standards and other platforms that are necessary for the evolving Internet of Things - revolution . MS is still fighting the documents & Internet battles when everyone else has moved on to devices+cloud - evolution. And those that are flexible enough will be the better choice in the long run.

link fail

I get a "404 Page Not Found" error when attempting to view the Excel spreadsheet.

Save as target downloads a broken ZIP file.

Reply button on posts also seems to be broken (in Firefox).

the link is not working anymore ?
Or what am I doing wrong ?
404 page not found ...

404 persists ... 9:46 AM EST.

Tried again at 9:50 AM EST ... success!

zip contains two xlsx files:
(i)GAv365_Comparison_revised, &
(ii) Google Apps v. Office 365 Comparison Chart Template

Anyone looking at hosted services should not assume that Microsoft is any more "private" than Google.
I was surprised (esp. after the "Scroogled" ads) to find that the terms of service for Hotmail/Outlook mail give Microsoft essentially the same power to scan and use your email and attachments as Google has. Google allows you to adjust some privacy settings. I don't have the experience with MS hosted services to know if they provide that functionality.

I too am getting the 404 error when I try to download the chart.

I found this article very lacking in depth. I would like to see more discussion about Enterprise features like language input tools and translation features, context sensitive spell checking, the ability of staff to manage their own mobile devices in the event of a lost or stolen mobile, Video chat across all type of devices and just generally more comparison of how these systems work on mobile devices including iOS and Android. Also what about SHARING and how these systems compare.

Great start - thank you!! I would LOVE to see more on the comparison of email clients. I am a long time advanced user of Outlook - I love the filtering and views capabailities in particular. I would LOVE to see a detailed comparison of the 2 - thank you!

I maintain certain documents for another company that are always stored off-line, as neither I nor my "boss" consider the Cloud a secure place to store proprietary information. We have been collaborating on these documents since about 1994. Skype and CrossLoop have made the process much more streamlined because several people can view the "source" screen simultaneously but, as the typographer, I maintain the Master documents secure in the knowledge that no one is going to screw up the formatting or mess up cross-referencing.

In creating this post, yes, I'm using an online "editing" box but I'm not committing the entirety of my data storage and some extremely complex cross-linking to someone else's server.

Without PGP-class encryption (which means an elaborate electronic key-ring), I'm not entrusting personal or other secure data to the Cloud.

to me this article reads like many articles on the web today that appear to be legitimate but are actually paid advertisements. i have no idea if techrepublic is being paid by microsoft to 'publish' this biased article but it is either half baked, out of date, or just plain wrong.
if one is stuck in the mode of wanting to work locally with ms office products then that can be done with google apps as well. with the use of google drive all the shared and private company files are available when online or not. microsofts recent 'upgade' of office 365 (with such stupid things as now calling your contact list 'people' instead of contacts and an uglier than ever interface) is absurdly complicated and clumsy to use as it tried to be all things for all people. once again microsoft created a product that requires a support staff to run vs. google that a complete novice can set up and configure. the choice is pretty obvious that google's product blows away microsoft day late and dollar short version, but i am sure there are plenty of lemmings that will still follow microsoft.

I can't speak for Google Apps, but SharePoint in Office 365 offers both search & versioning functionality.
Personally, I find that the best way to determine which suite is best suited to a company's needs is to have some key users try it themselves and see which works better for the way they work.
Office 365 does offer free trials; contact me if you want to find out how to get one.

L. R.
Quantech Corp.

In your at-a-glance file...
Users using Office 2013 can simultaneously edit a OneNote, Excel, Word doc in either desktop or web and see each others' changes near instantly. I do it all the time. You don't have to "save" for other user to see it.

This is quite possibly the worst feature comparison I've ever read. It's technically inaccurate (as has been pointed out by several people, including myself), the scope misses a ton of features to compare, and reaches no substantive conclusions (which would be wrong anyway, due to previously stated reasons). I hope next year, when Ian hopefully revisits this article, he'll actually update it with something useful to his readers.

Why aren't you taking into account ALL features of Office 365, especially those which don't have comparable GA features?
I'm talking about Lync Online - very powerful tool for integrated real-time collaboration

Office 365 range of plans are ;
Most Expensive = Large Enterprise Plan (E3)
Price = 20$/user/month OR 240$ /User/Year

Cheapest = Small Enterprise Plan (Exchange Online P1)
Price = 4$ /user/month OR 48$ /User/Year

Google Apps for Business (straight) = 5$ /User/Month OR 50$ /User/Year
Google Vault (Archiving) = 5$ /User/Month OR 50$ /User/Year

Price Wise - Compare both for yourself carefully as microsoft have very cheecky, clever, complex and confusing pricing plans.. Beware

I guess it's not really a part of Office, but it's a kludge of parts stolen from Office, and desperately in need of competition.

countrymen won't either - the reason is the huge cost involved in using ANY online Office system as down here we pay for every MB of upload and download. For me to write a novel via and online word processor would cost me something in the order of $40 or $50 for data transfers to get it to a print ready stage. To do it at home on a program on my PC costs nothing but my time.

Thanks for the article and the work you've put into it. It leaves me with a couple of questions...

1) What's your motivation to add OneNote to your comparison as Google doesn't have it? And yes, there are multiple cheaper or even free alternatives in the cloud arena to do the job.

2) Yes, Microsoft has a nice Office suite. Number one in the market... but... there's a price tag and I think a big one (read: disadvantage) when you take also that into consideration. When talking about 'back to basics' (enough for > 80% of the working-force) consider installing Google Chrome and use the free 'installable apps' for offline editing. A mobile app with 'basic' offline capabilities (Google Drive) is also avaliable for Android, iPad , iPhone.

3) Revision and versioning:

"Document revision could be known as the act of both storing old copies of the same document with the ability to store a revision on the whim, while versioning takes this routine a step further by giving the author the ability to understand the differences between each version, as with CVS (Concurrent Versioning System). Although both Google Docs and Office Web Apps documents each have sufficient methods in place to keep track of a long history of revisions, any versioning feature is completely missing. This might only be necessary for advanced users, such as developers, but is something that can certainly deepen the argument for moving entirely to the cloud. Furthermore, it could be said that all users need to start using CVS."

As far as I know Google has revisions available for all supported formats (so including Microsoft Office files) and there's a sort of integrated versioning/revision solution for there own Google Apps 'format'. Every edit made to a document is stored within a Revision History as described here: http://support.google.com/drive/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=190843

What is it you're missing at this point?

Looking forward to your answers and opinion. Thanks.

Best regards,
Maik