By now I'm sure you've heard the news that Google will be launching a presentation tool as part of its Docs and Spreadsheets service.  The new presentation app, which is slated to be released this summer, is built on technology Google acquired from Tonic Systems.

 

I'm not going to rehash all of the details about the deal.  Enough folks are already talking about it (check out Techmeme for a massive blogging chatter-fest about this).

 

Several other people have noted the irony behind this announcement:  even though Google continues to say they're not interested in competing with Microsoft's Office software suite, they continue to turn to Docs and Spreadsheets into more of a full-featured application.

 

As Steve Bryant points out, Tonic's presentation tool has a major selling point:  it's PowerPoint compatible.  The word processing and spreadsheet applications offered by Google are also compatible with their Microsoft counterparts.  And Google has also just added charting capabilities to its spreadsheet product… taking it one step closer to a viable Excel alternative.

 

But even as recent as the last 24 hours, Google CEO Eric Schmidt has said that Google is not, in fact, trying to compete with Microsoft… at the same time he announced the presentation tool.  And as the poll on Read/Write Web suggests, folks aren't buying it (almost 60% think he's full of it as of the writing of this post).  Of particular interest to me was this bit of info from R/WW:

 

That, my friends, is called rhetoric.  As I'm a fan of analyzing arguments, let me take a minute to pull this one apart.  Google can say whatever it wants.  They know exactly what they're doing and it's a little sad that they think we don't.  Come on… Eric Schmidt isn't the first CEO to say one thing publicly and push for something different internally.

 

Google says the "main goal" of Docs and Spreadsheets is to create a web-based office suite that takes advantage of the collaborative abilities of the Internet.  Google says they're not competing with Microsoft Office.  So we can then assume that Google's tool isn't meant to replace Office.

 

Let's say I'm an Office user and Google is wooing me to Docs and Spreadsheets.  They tell me to use D&S so I can collaborate.  I create my documents in Office, upload them to Docs and Spreadsheets, fix all of the formatting snafus that almost always occur when translating Office documents, and then collaborate.  Once all of the changes are made, I download the document from D&S, take it back into Office, re-fix any formatting issues, and presto!  I've used Google Docs and Spreadsheets the way Google pitches it.

 

You, I, and Google know that scenario is bunk.

 

Google wants people to start, finish, and share documents in Docs and Spreadsheets.  It would make no sense for someone to upload and download and reformat and fix documents constantly while moving them back and forth between Office and D&S.  Google knows that.  Not only do they know that… they're banking on it.

 

I've always been a fan of Docs and Spreadsheets so I'm looking forward to the improvements and new features.  But come on Google… just own up to what you're doing and go after Microsoft head-on.  I have a feeling Mountain View isn't sure it can succeed at a direct assault against Redmond.  Not on their home turf, anyway.  So maybe Google is waiting to make some headway before stating the obvious.  Maybe they're just scared?