02.22.07
Google Apps Goes Live
After months of speculation, it appears Google has finally launched their subscription package of premium, hosted business applications, known as Google Apps. Designed to be a competitor for the market dominating Microsoft Office suite, Google Apps will provide a host of tools which are all available online. The Google Apps package includes Gmail for your domain, Google Talk, Google Calendar, Google Docs, Google Spreadsheets, Google Page Creator, and Google Start Page. Many of these tools have been available for months in various beta testing variations and some of them remain free, but in a much more limited format. For example, existing accounts to these tools have a 2 GB per user limit on storage, with Google Apps, that limit is 10 GB. Is this a good move by Google, and does this package have what it take anything away from Microsoft Office and its main competitor Open Office (which is completely free) ? At the $50 per year subscription fee, it is bound to get some interest, but will it be enough?
