4 ms·

This is how this cloud thing is supposed to work. Microsoft please note this.

CWuestefeld 16y ago
Well, they're getting closer. But: If you save a document from Powerpoint to Google Docs, and then edit that file using the Google Docs web editor, you will not be able to sync those changes back with the native version of the file.
- elblanco 16y ago
  One thing the web version of Office does better than Docs is most definitely Powerpoint slides. While the interface for making presentations in Docs is impressive by web standards, there's so many things that I routinely need that I can't get in Docs that making presentations there is pretty much a nonstarter.
doty 16y ago
http://skydrive.live.com http://skydrive.live.com ? Doesn't it already work this way? Specifically, I can create and edit office documents using Microsoft's web-based editors, and then open the documents in my local editors and when I hit save they save back to "the cloud." What else needs to happen?
- kenjackson 16y ago
  It's Microsoft, so you must ignore it... until Google or Apple does it. The two things MS doesn't do is versioning and conflict management.
  - Elepsis 16y ago
    SkyDrive saves old versions of your Office documents, though this is perhaps not as discoverable as it ought to be. Not sure what you mean by conflict management--in general, unless you have full coauthoring support (the Office Web Apps have partial support: OneNote and Excel support it on the web, Word, PowerPoint and OneNote support it in the client) it doesn't make much sense to have a 'conflict resolution' story. (Disclosure: I work on some of this stuff.)
- elblanco 16y ago
  You need to purchase a version of office that supports skydrive.
- thesethings 16y ago
  I give props to MS for its progression, but MS's web-based editors just can't compare to Google's. Some of them require Silverlight plugin. Also, its word-processing editor cannot do concurrent editing in its web app. Also, this is surreal, but if the documentation is to be believed, this new Google plugin supports more versions of MS Office than MS's own cloud apps do.
  - Splines 16y ago
    > Some of them require Silverlight plugin. Silverlight will improve the experience, but is not a requirement. > this new Google plugin supports more versions of MS Office than MS's own cloud apps do. It's a mixed bag. Office 2003/2007 can't save to Skydrive, but this Google plug-in can't do document co-authoring (the merge story with this plug-in isn't pretty).
  - doty 16y ago
    It's opinion, of course; I use MS's web-based editors quite a lot, and they work well for me. I almost always have access to the local client software, too, so most of the time it doesn't even really matter; skydrive is just a great cloud-storage thingy for my documents. For the times I don't have a copy of office on the machine, the web editors are fine. I haven't yet run into the concurrent editing problem, but it may well be a showstopper for some features. For note-taking (which is the common case I can think of), OneNote is arguably a better choice, and it supports concurrent editing.

Well, they're getting closer. But: If you save a document from Powerpoint to Google Docs, and then edit that file using the Google Docs web editor, you will not be able to sync those changes back with the native version of the file.

elblanco 16y ago
One thing the web version of Office does better than Docs is most definitely Powerpoint slides. While the interface for making presentations in Docs is impressive by web standards, there's so many things that I routinely need that I can't get in Docs that making presentations there is pretty much a nonstarter.

doty 16y ago

http://skydrive.live.com http://skydrive.live.com ? Doesn't it already work this way? Specifically, I can create and edit office documents using Microsoft's web-based editors, and then open the documents in my local editors and when I hit save they save back to "the cloud." What else needs to happen?

kenjackson 16y ago
It's Microsoft, so you must ignore it... until Google or Apple does it. The two things MS doesn't do is versioning and conflict management.
- Elepsis 16y ago
  SkyDrive saves old versions of your Office documents, though this is perhaps not as discoverable as it ought to be. Not sure what you mean by conflict management--in general, unless you have full coauthoring support (the Office Web Apps have partial support: OneNote and Excel support it on the web, Word, PowerPoint and OneNote support it in the client) it doesn't make much sense to have a 'conflict resolution' story. (Disclosure: I work on some of this stuff.)
elblanco 16y ago
You need to purchase a version of office that supports skydrive.
thesethings 16y ago
I give props to MS for its progression, but MS's web-based editors just can't compare to Google's. Some of them require Silverlight plugin. Also, its word-processing editor cannot do concurrent editing in its web app. Also, this is surreal, but if the documentation is to be believed, this new Google plugin supports more versions of MS Office than MS's own cloud apps do.
- Splines 16y ago
  > Some of them require Silverlight plugin. Silverlight will improve the experience, but is not a requirement. > this new Google plugin supports more versions of MS Office than MS's own cloud apps do. It's a mixed bag. Office 2003/2007 can't save to Skydrive, but this Google plug-in can't do document co-authoring (the merge story with this plug-in isn't pretty).
- doty 16y ago
  It's opinion, of course; I use MS's web-based editors quite a lot, and they work well for me. I almost always have access to the local client software, too, so most of the time it doesn't even really matter; skydrive is just a great cloud-storage thingy for my documents. For the times I don't have a copy of office on the machine, the web editors are fine. I haven't yet run into the concurrent editing problem, but it may well be a showstopper for some features. For note-taking (which is the common case I can think of), OneNote is arguably a better choice, and it supports concurrent editing.