And as much as I love Google Docs & Spreadsheets and OpenOffice, I don’t believe that MS Office’s days are numbered.

As I see it, there will always be a demand for a desktop office suite. Millions of people keep personal and private information in their documents and they will want to feel the security of keeping these documents with them on their own PC.

To believe the masses will put their private documents on Google’s servers is quite a stretch. It doesn’t matter what features Google provides either. So demand for a desktop office suite is not going anywhere.

But, as Ryan said, an OpenOffice/Google partnership would definitely put some pressure on MS, as Google will offer the best of both worlds. I’d love to see that happen.

Ryan wrote:

You are so right! Microsoft Word has over 1500 features and that is why Microsoft decided it was time to redesign the interface. The new interface does make it a lot easier to find what you are looking for but one of the biggest problems is that people don’t even think to look for the features. One example would be mail merge. Think about all of the people that type out the names and addresses onto envelopes when mail merge makes that task a piece of cake.

I didn’t even know about it…

I use mail merge quite a bit ([office.microsoft.com]). In fact, it was such a highly requested feature from OpenOffice.org that [documentation.openoffice.org] it as well.

Here is how Microsoft describes that it could be useful:

You use mail merge when you want to create a set of documents that are essentially the same but where each document contains unique elements. For example, in a letter that announces a new product, your company logo and the text about the product will appear in each letter, and the address and greeting line will be different in each letter.

Using mail merge, you can create:

– A set of labels or envelopes The return address is the same on all the labels or envelopes, but the destination address is unique on each one.
– A set of form letters, e-mail messages, or faxes The basic content is the same in all the letters, messages, or faxes, but each contains information that is specific to the individual recipient, such as name, address, or some other piece of personal data.
– A set of numbered coupons The coupons are identical except that each contains a unique number.

Creating each letter, message, fax, label, envelope, or coupon individually would take hours. That’s where mail merge comes in. Using mail merge, all you have to do is create one document that contains the information that is the same in each version. Then you just add some placeholders for the information that is unique to each version. Word takes care of the rest.

It is pretty cool especially for sending out things like invitations. I just keep a single database of our whole family and their addresses…then I can print personalized invitations or cards in seconds.

Hmmm…The only way that I can see MS Office’s days being numbered is if Google teamed up with………OpenOffice.org! How sweet would that be if they had a partnership with them the same way that they do for Firefox. Then they could work on a way to synchronize documents from your desktop to the Google Docs in just a few clicks.

They could make it an [tech.cybernetnews.com]!

I didn’t even know about it…

Jeez, with the full Google docs suite and file type compatibility with MS office, is there really a need for a desktop office suite?

Maybe the relationship between web and desktop office suites will evolve to that of web-mail and desktop mail.

I would probably start to use this insanely more if Google offered an offline solution to creating, editing, and saving documents. And then the online version would be for easy access from anywhere.

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Hmmm…The only way that I can see MS Office’s days being numbered is if Google teamed up with………OpenOffice.org! How sweet would that be if they had a partnership with them the same way that they do for Firefox. Then they could work on a way to synchronize documents from your desktop to the Google Docs in just a few clicks.

You are so right! Microsoft Word has over 1500 features and that is why Microsoft decided it was time to redesign the interface. The new interface does make it a lot easier to find what you are looking for but one of the biggest problems is that people don’t even think to look for the features. One example would be mail merge. Think about all of the people that type out the names and addresses onto envelopes when mail merge makes that task a piece of cake.

I like the idea that web document editors would be easily integratable with their desktop counterparts, though having all of your documents stored online would be impractical for most people. It’s very plausible though, with MS’s launch of Office Online.

MS Office’s days are numbered.

Maybe the relationship between web and desktop office suites will evolve to that of web-mail and desktop mail.

BTW: Just got to say I LOVE that your comment posting doesn’t require log-in or Email confirmation. The hassle really deters me from other sites