Google is usually fairly tight lipped about future product releases. But they were surprisingly revealing about upcoming plans for Google Apps at an event in Ann Arbor earlier this week. Blogger Andrew Miller took some great notes from a presentation by Googler Scott Johnston, the VP of Product Development at wiki startup Jotspot prior to their acquisition by Google a little over a year ago.
First, Google Sites, an evolution of Google Page Creator, will launch in 2008. Google Sites will be based on JotSpot collaboration tools and will allow businesses to create intranets, project management tracking, extranets and other custom sites.
We should also expect Google Docs, Gmail and Calendar to soon work offline via Google Gears. This has been widely predicted, but it’s good to see it coming more formally from Google (note that Zoho, a Google Docs competitor, already has offline functionality via Google Gears).
Some of the other stuff is more speculative, but worth the read (pivot tables on Google Spreadsheets? I doubt it).
* Google Sites: Scheduled to be launched sometime next year (2008), Google Sites will expand upon the Google Page Creator already offered within Apps. Based on JotSpot collaboration tools, Sites will allow business to set up intranets, project management tracking, customer extranets, and any number of custom sites based on multi-user collaboration.
* Will users be able to edit docs, spreadsheets and presentation offline? Scott’s answer was yes, and that the Google Gears plugin would handle the offline work. In addition, Google Gears support is in the works for Gmail and Google Calendar.
* What happens when somebody edits a document offline at the same time another user is editing the online version? The same algorithm that reconciles simultaneous editing will apply here when the offline version is merged back into the online version. Changes will be versioned the same way, so basically in chronological order.
* Will Google docs have OCR capabilities for importing .pdfs or other graphical files? Not yet, but perhaps someday. Scott couldn’t comment on the “roadmap” for future enhancements. However, the collaborative Google Sites (based on JotSpot) will allow for upload and storage of any file type.
* Will GrandCentral be integrated into Google Apps? If so, when? Again, Scott didn’t comment on the timing but said they are working on it and it is a “huge priority” for them.
* Will Google Spreadsheets ever have advanced features like pivot tables, macros or offline database integrations? (This was actually my question) Scott said they are constantly trying to find the balance between speed and utility. It will never be a heavy duty analytics program because that would be too heavy and bulky for the average user.
* Will Google Apps support video conferencing in addition to Google Talk and Chat? Scott’s answer, “Not yet”. I got the impression from his body language that it’ll come someday, but nothing more was said.
Google docs and gmail access offline would be good enough for me to start with.
I am amazed at how many apps google offers for free. I am just getting myself around the Google Analytics tool and Webmaster tools which are awesome.
I also started using google docs and spreadsheets just recently. It is definitely a nice tool when you think about the sharing capabilities and multiple source editing. Even though they must be working hard to keep the improvements coming, I am glad they are offering these now and in the future for free!
TC wrote:
“..they were surprisingly revealing about upcoming plans for Google Apps..”
Maybe this is because … yawn.. lost my train of thought. Andrew, thanks but no thanks. I’ll just go pack unpack and pack again rather than read this post again.
Analytics is probably one of the most useful tools google has given to the community (besides the search of course)
If Google can really look at ways of integrating all of their various Google Apps together for the benefits of the Global Business Community, then they might just hit the jackpot for online Business Collaborations.
So far Google Apps has not been deserving in being mentioned as part of Google’s recent company motto of ‘Search, Advertising & Apps’.
But if Google can finally utilize all of the various synergies related to Google Apps and create the ultimate online business Communications and Collaborations office suite, Google Apps could become even more innovative then Search and Advertising.
With Microsoft currently sitting on the fence in regards to releasing their own versions of web based office suites, Google is steam rolling ahead in their pursuit of delivering such services to the Global Business Community.
Once again Microsoft is not looking at the overall picture of delivering all key business operations online.
They were too slow in realizing the importance of online Search, along with the importance of online Advertising.
Now it also looks as if they will miss the next online gravy train.
Moe, you got most of it.
It just turns out various synergies within Google, as you put it, are rather lab projects that are not going anywhere. There should be an intelligent filter somewhere within google management that should filter out crap like google sets and similar and focus on things that matters.
You are right Shmoe.
If Google can finally piece together all of the various parts of their current scattered Google Apps divisions, then what I call ‘Cloud Networking’ will be a big hit for the Company in 2008.
Ultimately in all depends on how Google looks inside the Looking Glass.
that’s great
What about groups? I’ve always thought integrating google groups functionality into the apps for your domain suite would be a great addition.
Any other ideas of things which should get added?
Been waiting for a while to Google Gears on GMail
Offline apps? This remind me of the scene in Jurrassic park: “Stick.. Look stick stupid..” Frankly who gives a damn about offline funcionality. I’m on 5Mbps and have been for past 5 years. I’m sure half of America will be on it too in less than a year. There is always the Mexican mareket factor though… yeah go get them bad boys!
it’s a nice move that google will be having their google docs offline, that we could be able to create our documents and spreadsheets using their services .. Because I like google that’s why it is a very good news for me
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@Not Impressed: Google is a global company, not a -half of america- company.
Unimpressed. Just focus to strenthen this OpenSocial stuff.
I’ve Had About Enough of Gaggle and am Mad Enough to Throw a Chair! – guTards!
Gaggle is readying an online PowerPoint compatible creation and presentation tool, their code name for it is “Pissantly”.
I only have one simple message for these wannabe MS drones and anal-retentives:
“KEEP YOUR FREAK’N GREASY FINGERS OFF MY PPT FORMAT!!!”
I can understand your wanting an application like PowerPoint (it’s wonderful), I can understand your jealousy of Bill and I, I can even understand why you guys are all so brainwashed. But, PPT belongs to Microsoft! We will go over every bit and byte of whatever you “release” looking for any violations of our codebase, if we find even the slightest copying, I garun-darned-tee you that all hell will break loose on you guTards!
“THIS FAR, NO FURTHER!!!”
The cloud is comin’ baby!
It’s gonna’ rain allllll over you!
@Not Impressed: While it’ll probably happen someday (maybe even sooner than we expect), you still can’t get online, and certainly not at broadband speeds, in many places where you’d want to work, even in the “wired” half of the US. Start with commercial airlines and subway/commuter train tunnels–one of the most common arguments I’ve heard against switching to Google Apps is “but that’ll prevent me from working on an airplane!”
Work offline? Lol, good news!!!!
Google Apps by itself is pretty boring, but with GrandCentral it could be pretty impressive. Most people seem happy with their microsoft desktop applications, but nobody is ever happy with their archaic voicemail systems.
Steve Balmer, not all curries are greasy. Besides, I always wash my hands well before popping my reverse engineering debugger and start ripping things out.
Isn’t the power point format already available through an open source apache lib like POI ?
looking forward
Google is starting to learn that real businesses and companies don’t want to put their trust in a company that is secretive about its roadmap, plans and future of its products.
They still haven’t gotten it right, though – they made their announcement at a local chamber of commerce? Did I read that right?
The plans are great. Especially bringing office offline. With the plans to have google apps rolled out to enterprises, the ability to work offline and the agility to create collaboration tools will increase productivity.
It might sound stupid but how about getting blogger included in the apps. It can act as dashboards/forums and help enterprises.
I’m glad this news is getting a lot of attention. Google Apps has a lot of potential and based on Scott’s presentation it is only going to get better.
@Isaac Garcia – I don’t think it was supposed to be Google’s formal announcement of its Apps plans for 2008, but it certainly sounded like it during the very pointed Q&A session. There were a lot of current Apps users there that were familiar with the current offerings and had very specific questions about future rollouts. All of the information I covered had been predicted elsewhere, but that was the first time I had heard it from Google itself.
@Moe Glitz – Scott talked a lot about the cloud computing environment. In addition to what I posted, he addressed security concerns from the audience by comparing the Google infrastructure to a bank. Instead of hoarding money under a mattress, people have come to trust the centralized banks with their money for security purposes. Even though we can’t see it, we know our money is safe. Google seems to be seeking the same level of trust. My feeling is that the longer term wins are going to come from the companies that earn users’ trust.
@Robin – I didn’t hear anything specifically about Groups. I had it on my list of questions to ask but there were so many other interesting questions in the queue that we ran out of time and had to move on to the next part of the presentation – “show and tell” with the current suite of Apps services.
Wake me up when Google gets around to a mobile presence client that combines GrandCentral (as switchboard),gCal (no, not just the bloody agenda!), gTalk (for *all* im formats, please) and email notifier (gImap is great *when* it stays connected).
Oh and I guess they’d better chuck in vGSM a la Jaiku.
The app’s name? Why, gPIM of course!
No pressure, I’ll check back in the Spring!
;-o
Something completely overlooked (and I wish I could have been at that talk to bring it up) is how “Google Apps” as a product (aka Google Apps for your domain or GAFYD) is separate completely from the Google apps we know and love.
First, you have to log in separately, your GAFYD login doesn’t work with “regular” Gmail, actually conflicts with Calendar, and doesn’t work at all with Google products not integrated with GAFYD (most products). On top of that, the apps that are supported – Mail, Calendar, Docs, Start Page – are versions behind the ones consumers use. Gmail is old, Start Page is a barely functional shell of iGoogle, etc. Further, you can’t go the other way – there is no widget on iGoogle that shows me my GAFYD email (even though it’s “Gmail”!). Ridiculous.
Even Yahoo got this right – when Yahoo Mail/Address Book/Calendar is configured for a custom domain, it is linked with your existing Yahoo ID, Yahoo Mail, mobile, and ALL existing Yahoo services.
It’s amazing to me how much cool stuff their doing and they got this so wrong.
New Google App: Gmail as hosted SPAM filter!
You get a service that is at least as good as SPAMfighter, MessageLabs or Postini – for free.
This really works great – and is totally free.
Yeah! Make it offline will be great!
OMG, I totally care about Google’s app plans for 2008
@Not Impressed: Maybe you should leave your basement once in a while and then you would appreciate having access to your email offline.
I’ve gotta agree that offline access isn’t a big deal.
How about mobile access to Gdocs? I’d even been a happy if I could at least view them. Viewing and editing would make my day.
Google are notorious for turning even their worse projects into successes so I guess this will be the same.
that list is far from complete. I was told by a leading ex-jotspot google-employee that they’ll finally publish a completely revamped jotspot business suite in q1…
can’t wait for that as basecamp is a slow pain to use…
I use many of the Google Apps to help with my website…. http://www.cool...hotolibrary.com
Google appz rule
Google apps rule indead
i use them quite often and really like the simpleness of it.
Great news!
Google Sites sound like a neat idea.
Maybe one of these days they’ll get around to fixing all the jotspot bugs that have existed for a year and been ignored….
is there any change to chat with yahoo messenger through google chat??
I cant wait to try out offline versions of Google Spreadsheets via Gears
Bilal EzZo
Google offline…sounds nice! Interesting!
That sounds GREAT!
first time i hear about this, sound very interesting.