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Microsoft Office Is Stupid And Google Docs Had To Follow


There I said it! My logical blood cells are reproducing faster than normal lately so bear with me. I’m a front and middle tier software developer by trade, but in reality I’m paid to “think” about how people truly use software. This carries over to all parts of my life but I’ll leave that for another post. With this charter I’ve been thinking about MS Office, Google Docs and all other “office” type software.

Microsoft Office Logo

Microsoft Office Logo

My gripe today is mainly with Microsoft Office and Google Docs. There are many tiny things that I probably would design differently, but thats okay. I’m not that picky. What I hate is that I’m forced to pick the type of document I want to create before starting. I think aliens would be LTAO if they saw this. Think about it. You have to either create a spreadsheet, word doc, or presentation. What if halfway through my doc I want a page to display a real spreadsheet? Of what if I want to display some slides in the middle of my spreadsheet? At the end of the day its just a file with pages of information. Forcing me to pick the structure of my doc before hand is the stupidest thing ever.

Google Docs Logo

Google Docs Logo

Google came along and was supposed to take it to MS with their online docs, but in my opinion, they didn’t hit hard enough while the iron was hot. Don’t get me wrong, online docs will grow tremendously over the next few years but instead of being more innovative Google pretty much just copied MS Office and put it online. So much for do no evil. (Google you disappoint me.)

I propose someone create a new document structure. This would simply be a single file that can hold and display any type of data; docs, spreadsheets, slides, web pages, diagrams, etc. Humans shouldn’t have to think about this before hand. Let the program do the heavy lifting. Imagine if pg 1 was a slide, pg 2 some textual info, pg 3 a real spreadsheet, pg 4 an editable call flow diagram and pg 5 a live web page.

If there is a company out there creating this then God bless you! If not then I’m giving this idea to the world. As soon as I wrap up a few other projects I’m working on (2-3 yrs realistically) I’ll start working on an online version of this. But given the lucrative market for Office upgrades combined with poor innovation from those with the resources to actually be innovative, I suspect I’ll still be the first one to offer this. (Did you just hear that? That was the sound of the gauntlet being thrown.) You can call this post anything you want. I’ll call it “just too logical”.

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This entry was posted on Apr 5, 2009, 8:03 PM and is filed under Just Too Logical, Software. You can follow any responses to this entry through RSS 2.0. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

  • http://www.zoho.com Raju Vegesna

    Did you try Zoho Notebook (notebook.zoho.com). It users a similar concept you mentioned where one page can be a word processor, another a spreadsheet and has the ability to embed audio/video/presentations/web pages etc.

  • http://www.zoho.com Raju Vegesna

    Did you try Zoho Notebook (notebook.zoho.com). It users a similar concept you mentioned where one page can be a word processor, another a spreadsheet and has the ability to embed audio/video/presentations/web pages etc.

  • http://justtoological.com Chaalz

    I like the concept you describe, but when I checked out the site I still saw Zoho having separate apps for Word Processor, Spreadsheets and Presentation Tool. If Notebook could do all this then why have all those other apps. Is Notebook just an advanced webpage creator? I can’t tell. I’ve yet to see a company just have a single app simply called Online Document (or whatever).

    In any case Zoho’s Notebook is a step in the right direction. I will check it out in more detail later on. Thx for the post.

    Twitter @chaalz

  • http://justtoological.com Chaalz

    I like the concept you describe, but when I checked out the site I still saw Zoho having separate apps for Word Processor, Spreadsheets and Presentation Tool. If Notebook could do all this then why have all those other apps. Is Notebook just an advanced webpage creator? I can’t tell. I’ve yet to see a company just have a single app simply called Online Document (or whatever).

    In any case Zoho’s Notebook is a step in the right direction. I will check it out in more detail later on. Thx for the post.

    Twitter @chaalz

  • http://www.zoho.com Raju Vegesna

    @Chaalz

    Note that a concept like a word processor doesn’t disappear over night. People have been using these for decades and it takes a gradual migration. There have been couple of companies who did almost exactly what you said, but they are dead now as it is too much change from the way people are used to doing things….and people don’t like change. So these single product companies failed.

    We offer several options and Notebook is offered to people who prefer the new approach of bringing all things together. That said, the reality is, not many people are going to change to the new model.

    Twitter @Zoho

  • http://www.zoho.com Raju Vegesna

    @Chaalz

    Note that a concept like a word processor doesn’t disappear over night. People have been using these for decades and it takes a gradual migration. There have been couple of companies who did almost exactly what you said, but they are dead now as it is too much change from the way people are used to doing things….and people don’t like change. So these single product companies failed.

    We offer several options and Notebook is offered to people who prefer the new approach of bringing all things together. That said, the reality is, not many people are going to change to the new model.

    Twitter @Zoho

  • http://www.lifeaftercollege.org jennyblake

    I agree – at the very least give me Google Docs with tab capabilities (like spreadsheets). Even better? Hybrid tabs, where when you click through the tabs could be a doc, a spreadsheet or a presentation. I guess in theory Google sites allows for more versatility, but it’s too clunky without inline editing on embedded docs.

    I work at Google…you would think I’d be able to do something about this…LOL.

  • http://www.lifeaftercollege.org Jenny Blake

    I agree – at the very least give me Google Docs with tab capabilities (like spreadsheets). Even better? Hybrid tabs, where when you click through the tabs could be a doc, a spreadsheet or a presentation. I guess in theory Google sites allows for more versatility, but it’s too clunky without inline editing on embedded docs.

    I work at Google…you would think I’d be able to do something about this…LOL.

  • Christopher Hire

    It's called OLE / embedding / technical skills. It is possible to do all you describe – but easier if you learnt how to use Office from 95 onwards, and have strong technical skills honed from frustration.

    If a document has a number bias, choose Excel/ssheets. If it has a text bias choose a word document (word). Slides are only for display, with entirely different font sizes (16pt+) to text in a report (12pt). But one file, with the application guessing what I want. jeez. No thanks. There is the law of unintended consequences, because the 'application' must guess the best structure.

    Arguably, you could say, that it would be better not to have to have these skills… So, I agree though there is a market for an easier way to do this. And a flow between – like an iphone or isomething sort of breeziness in the interface layer. And google docs is underwhelming.

    If it's a text document with every insert treated as an XML specified object, with formats separated from data… perhaps for every day use… Hey… that's a good idea. We shall see it soon. Perhaps with proper open source lightweight code…!

    Thanks for the post, Charles

    Keep innovating,

    Christopher Hire
    http://www.2thinknow.com

  • http://justtoological.com/ Chaalz

    Can't believe its been over a year since I wrote that post. :)

    Interesting to approach it from a user-knowledge point of view. No doubt there is lots one can do with software if they know all the small hidden features. But the learning curve is not worth the effort.

    The point I'm trying to make (admittedly rather poorly) is that there is (read – shouldn't be) no such thing as “number bias” and no such thing as “only for display” or limitations on font sizes.

    From a user point of view, being purely objective, I believe the requirements are simple:
    1. You want a thing, lets call it a document, that holds your data.
    2. This document can be printed (into one or more pages of info).
    3. This document can be displayed (into one or more screen full of info).
    4. Creating/Editing this document must be easy and intuitive.

    I don't see any need for guessing the best structure as there is only 1 structure. Trust me I know as a developer myself that this is remarkably hard to do, let alone do well. But I also know that it is doable. With almost 2 decades of Office software development under their belt, I just can't give MS a free pass anymore as to why a better approach has not been tried.

    Well I better stop here…its almost midnight and you got me excited again looking up old designs I have stored away for this. Just can't seem to find the time!

    Thanks for the comment.