Google’s chief executive, Eric Schmidt said: “I think most people would agree that PowerPoint is the de-facto application for presentations, and one of the best programs Microsoft has (that, and Excel). If Google only provides online support for its new software, the issues are the same as for its other offerings: No network equals no work. I would imagine that Google could get good traction if the software supports imports/exports to PowerPoint, but I doubt it will take any significant market share away from Microsoft for quite some time. The great thing about Google’s offerings is the built-in ability to share between anyone, which totally blows Microsoft out of the water. Google needs to catch up on features, and Microsoft needs to find a way to share as easily as Google.”
A couple of days ago, Google announced that they had acquired Tonic Systems. This move was not necessarily made to compete with Microsoft PowerPoint directly, but to add to the arsenal of online office applications that Google already supports such as Google Docs & Spreadsheets.
The new software is expected to release by this summer and is practically run on JAVA. This announcement was made official on the Google Blog.
Google Operating System, a blog that focuses on the changes made by Google discovered in the code of Google Docs & Spreadsheets an error message displaying:
var MSG_POPUP_BLOCKER=”Presently is unable to launch your presentation in full-screen mode. Check your pop-up blocker settings.”;
This is an indication that the code name used for the software is Presently. This may actually be the official name for the upcoming software too, but it is just speculation for now.
