In a nutshell: Chrome OS vs Office 2010

July 10, 2009 | Paul Boutin | Comments | |

Microsoft will unveil Office 2010 on Monday at the company’s worldwide partner conference in New Orleans. Google allegedly rushed out its Chrome OS announcement to spoil the fun for Microsoft.

What’s most interesting to me is the way the two companies are positioning their competing browser-based futures. I’ve edited down three long articles:

  • Google’s blog post: “Speed, simplicity and security are the key aspects of Google Chrome OS.”
  • The head of Microsoft’s Business Division’s CNET interview: “The base conversation is about productivity.”
  • BusinessWeek’s cover story on Microsoft: “We’re trying to redefine our notion of productivity.”

Watch how the words below are thrown around in the coming weeks. Google’s marketing and PR campaigns will ding Microsoft’s ubiquitous software as slow, overly complicated, and prone to hackers. Microsoft, in return, will remind us that when we think of work, we think of Windows.
chromevsoffice1

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About the Author, Paul Boutin

Paul (paul@venturebeat.com) covers Apple & the iPhone, social networks & social media, digital music & video, and any crazy Internet story. Paul wrote and edited for Valleywag from 2006-2008, after several years with Wired magazine and Slate. He writes regularly for The New York Times' technology section and sometimes for Wired and The Wall Street Journal. He studied computer science at MIT in the early 1980s, and worked as a software developer and network administrator for 15 years before becoming a professional writer. Follow him on Twitter at @paulboutin, and follow VentureBeat on Twitter at @venturebeat.

  • sample032
    Why Microsoft should really say is that Chrome OS isn't even released, so those aren't features, they're goals. The problem is mentioning this would make it look like Microsoft sees Chrome as a serious threat. You didn't see Apple trying to burst Android's bubble, did you?
  • gavinknight
    I don't think this article makes sense. In reality, it boils down to this- As long as you need windows to run Office and every major global business insists on using Office for compatibility, then MS is still safe and chrome won't mean a thing. Open Office remains busted useless junk when it comes to compatibility and google docs is just as bad for all the same reasons. Oracle is a stupid lumbering arrogant juggernaut that will simply crush open office for the malignant joy of it. I keep finding this funny, it's been funny since about 2000. Other than the geeklords (like you and me) *most* people use computers for actual real work, which means the office productivity platform is the central driver for desktop adoption, somehow executives at Sun, Oracle and Google just don't seem to understand that.
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  • Kendell
    Office 2010 sounds interesting, but why wait for it to come out when you can use a product like eXpresso which already exists. I use eXpresso for business and personal needs and I LOVE IT! eXpresso provides real-time collaboration and editing control for shared Microsoft Office files in the cloud. Check it out at www.expressocorp.com