Original URL: https://www.theregister.com/2007/06/20/google_zenter_carbon_icp/

Google takes aim at Microsoft, carbon, China

Zentering on PowerPoint competitor

By Christopher Williams

Posted in Channel, 20th June 2007 10:39 GMT

Google's acquisition spree of recent weeks has continued with the acquisition of Zenter, another PowerPoint-but-online outfit.

As usual, terms are undisclosed. Zenter was focused on the user interface and sharing technology for the front end of online presentations, while Tonic Systems, which Google drank of in April, was building code to turn catatonia-inducing presentations into webtastic Java objects.

Google has yet to confirm when it'll add a PowerPoint competitor to Docs & Spreadsheets, its online office suite. So far it has boil-washed online versions of Word and Excel, which allow simple collaboration over the web.

Google was more keen to talk about how it aims to go carbon neutral by the end of this year. In a lengthy missive on the firm's official blog, operations SVP Urs Hoelzle details efforts on electric vehicles, solar panels, and carbon offsetting. There's no mention of the fate of the Boeing 767 which ferries Google top brass and Bono around the world, however.

In other Google news, the WSJ reports its controversial Chinese tentacle got a boost from regulators, when they gave it preliminary approval to pump content inside the Great Firewall. Censorship laws have so far stymied Google's progress against local competitor Baidu, which leads the Chinese search market. Google needs an internet content provider licence from the regime to operate its full range of services. ®