If you choose French language for the gmail interface you are not presented with such option. Change back to English (US) and voila. Take that you frog-eaters!

I have no desire to use Google's servers to store and process my documents. They're deluding themselves if they think this is a serious competition with MS Office or Open Office.

Oracle and IBM have also pushed this dumb idea that we should be using centralized servers instead of our own personal computers. It's the idea of the Network Computer or the Thin Client. All fancy words for timesharing. No thank-you.

If anything this is good for Microsoft, more people will be able to view presentations from Powerpoint on cross platform locked down machines.

Wake me up when Google produce a decent presentation editor, preferably with flash output.

Its so you don't have to download those adult powerpoints that people send around the office, thus preventing evidence from hitting your harddrive!

Bring them on, I say.

Google is changing the paradigm. Hosted apps versus virus prone applications that sit on clunky hard drives. The future is online, wireless, and service orientated.

This future is inevitable because Mobiles will out number PCs for devices connected to the Web.

Google is smart enough to know this and Microsoft is under serious attack. Their response is to keep pushing the 90s paradigm of software in a box for a few hundred bucks. That doesn't work for me anymore and I think millions will also realise the benefits of hosted apps or weblications.

That's a pretty silly viewpoint, Don. What google is trying to do is not to seduce the likes of you, who are not paying for their own copy of Office anyway.

This is targetted at the many, many people who don't want to shell out hundreds or thousands of dollars for an office suite. If they can get something inferior but acceptable for free online, they'll damn well use the online version. Even if they can only get it for very cheap.

Even if your product is better, it's never good to find yourself being undercut by someone *much* cheaper. A good alternative example of that would be Wikipedia vs Britannica.

This move is another nail in Microsoft Office's coffin. I wouldn't want to be in their place.

Daniel

i mean, u will probably find out that they assume ownership/right to archive it as fit, in compensation for the service they offer

never mind the fact that they will probably inject random adverts mid way through a presentation

crap crap and more crap, whats the point in 20gb+ hdd's ohhh yeah so u can store stuff locally and not waste bandwidth. if your too cheap to buy office just download the free viewer apps

just because i could attach electrodes to my balls and plug my self into the mains, doesn't mean that i should or its a good idea, its the same thing with web apps, just because it can be done, doesn't mean it should be

put another way, as an industry we should be looking for applications for technology, not trying to push technology looking for applications

It's unlikely that a Google supplied tool will ever replace MS Office... It's really poor policy to store sensitive business info on a "public use" server, which is what Google really is. The entire idea is akin to MoD putting strategic plans on web space included with their account from a local ISP. Ain't gonna happen.

Some small business may go the Google route but overall business adoption will be low. In fact some larger companies are beginning to ban sending/receiving/forwarding business related mail/files via Google. Too much risk with little real benefit to the bottom line. Google is not going to make your IT Staff any smaller so what's the point in assuming the risk that is using Google for business???

Pie-in-the-sky thoughts about Google taking over Microsoft with hosted apps are certainly warm and fuzzy, but do not seem very realistic.

First of all, using hosted apps is well and fine, as long as your DSL line remains functional. From what I've read lately, that is something of an issue in the UK, and it's not guaranteed elsewhere either. Once your DSL line is down, what do you do ? Play Minesweeper ?

Second, nobody is better placed for putting Microsoft down than Microsoft itself. Windows Me was a disaster, but MS carried on without a hitch. Vista is becoming a PR nightmare, but I don't think that will affect Ballmer's share price. Windows remains the professional desktop of choice, and when the DSL line doesn't work, the OS still can - as long as the current is flowing. And electricity is a tad more reliable than DSL, I'd say.

An awesome service just keeps getting better and better without the need to install countles M$ bloat-ware.

Keep up the awesome work Google!

Google already provides search boxes which companies can buy and plug into their network. If there is demand, they'll no doubt be happy to sell an equivalent which runs GMail and Google Apps, as well.

I am not accustomed to defending the Gnomes of Redmond but for years MS have offered a free PP viewer. Viewing presentations in Windows has not been a problem for a long time.

It probably does not work in Vista ;)

Google are probably doing this with an aim to sell a service.

Google already sell services like local search appliances.

This technology could also be rolled out and sold to

businesses who could then contain their documents and IP within their own infrastructure (storage on local hard disks are a worry here).

They have the publicly available service as a proof of concept to sell the tech to organisations.

Maybe also could tie in with policies for thin clients and reduced power consumption in organisations (another hot(pun intended) topic).

Will no one think of the trojan authors?

This is simply a feature for simplicity! It's a feature that will allow you to view a power point presentation without having to download the actual presentation, and run it, then find the file and delete it if it's garbage! It's not about taking out Microsoft in the short run (maybe they have other long term goals for this feature), it's not about saving bandwidth it's about society being lazy and taking the easy way out.

It would be helpful if you were one of those people that like to recieve and forward all of your junk/joke mail.