| Google steps up its fight against Microsoft with DocVerse acquisition |
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06/03/2010 12:45 (708 Day 06:55 minutes ago) | |||||
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The FINANCIAL -- Google is buying DocVerse which makes a group editing tool for Microsoft Office and thus stepping up its fight against Microsoft .
Google could transform DocVerse into a companion for the search giant's Docs software suite, enabling someone working on a document in Microsoft 's Word program to collaborate with others using Google's Web-based applications, Los Angeles Times reports. The Mountain View, Calif., company hinted at such integration in its blog post.
"As we continue to improve Google Docs and Google Sites as rich collaboration tools, we're also making it easier for people to transition to the cloud and interoperate with desktop applications like Microsoft Office," wrote Jonathan Rochelle, the group product manager of Google Apps, according to the same source. "The future of productivity applications is in the cloud." In "cloud computing," programs and data are stored on remote servers instead of users' own computers.
Google will make DocVerse's technology part of its Google Apps, Rochelle said, allowing users who upload Microsoft files into Google storage to edit and collaborate on them. Google also made the software, which carried fees for some types of usage, free and temporarily suspended new sign-ups, The Wall Street Journal reports. The deal is one of around a half dozen acquisitions that Google has announced since the end of 2009.
DocVerse was founded two and a half years ago by two former Microsoft employees, Shan Sinha and Alex DeNeui, according to the same source. The company has raised about $1.5 million in venture financing from Baseline Ventures and others. In addition to allowing people to do things like edit PowerPoint slides online, it also allows users to comment on documents online and display those comments visible to other users.
DocVerse founders Shan Sinha and Alex DeNeui said they intend to integrate their existing plug-in software with Google Apps - Mountain View's Microsoft -battling suite of online business tools, The Register reports. "Our first step will be to combine DocVerse with Google Apps to create a bridge between Microsoft Office and Google Apps," they wrote.
In June, Microsoft will officially release web-based versions of its familiar Office apps, and it's preparing something called Office Live Workspace for online collaboration. But Sinha and DeNeui are looking to move existing Office users in another direction, according to the same source. "From the moment we started talking with [Google], it was clear that there was a lot of shared DNA in how we approached solving people’s problems," they said. "We fundamentally believe that Google is one of the best positioned companies to truly disrupt the world of productivity software."
Google has been on a buying spree, The Washington Post reports. The firm has acquired four companies since Feb. 12, when it bought social media site Aardvark for $50 million. Five days later, it bought the developer of an iPhone e-mail search app called ReMail (which was promptly removed from the App Store). And on Monday, Google snagged image-editing site Picnik.
In 2009, Google acquired six companies, including three in November and one in December, according to the same source. The company is well on target to meet Google Chief Executive Eric Schmidt's goal of acquiring one small company a month.
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