# Google Apps - taking over? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 12, 2010, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-apps-taking-over/524681 "2010-01-12T17:36:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2010, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-apps-taking-over/524681/1 "2010-01-12T17:36:53Z")
> **[Google Workspace](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Apps)** > > Google Workspace is a collection of cloud computing, productivity and collaboration tools, software and products developed and marketed by Google. It consists of Gmail, Contacts, Calendar, Meet and Chat for communication; Currents for employee engagement; Drive for storage; and the Google Docs Editors suite for content creation. An Admin Panel is provided for managing users and services. Depending on edition Google Workspace may also include the digital interactive whiteboard Jamboard a While... Google is grabbing a bigger and bigger share of the market with Google Apps. G Mail is the best known. Anyone have experience with their office suite? How well does Google Docs work? Especially if you’re working with large word documents? How about spreadsheets? My employer (a large university) is converting from an in house mail system (Sun Microsystems) to Google Apps. They’ve moved all the students and the faculty/staff is next. It took me by surprise because of the HIPAA laws. Of course Google swears it’s secure. :dubious: Anyway, we’ll have access to all the Google stuff. Calendar, Docs, Spreadsheets, Presentations etc. I’m uneasy about this. Somehow, I prefer running MS Office on my own pc. Any thoughts or experiences? The irony is, I came from a mainframe environment. We ran All-In-One Office Suite on the Vax. Migrating to pc’s meant freedom. Now we’re going back to an environment that’s similar to mainframes. Is this progress? ---
**Author:** ![dhkendall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a9adbd/32.png) [@dhkendall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dhkendall)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2010, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-apps-taking-over/524681/2 "2010-01-12T18:56:29Z")
Ack, they’re even taking over the ad in this thread! Perhaps they are becoming the Microsoft they fear most … (I have no idea if they fear M$ or not, but who doesn’t?) ---
**Author:** ![LionelHutz405](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lionelhutz405/32/536_2.png) [@LionelHutz405](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LionelHutz405)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2010, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-apps-taking-over/524681/3 "2010-01-12T19:09:16Z")
I find the Word processor and spreadsheet to be OK for small documents, but too slow and clunky for serious work. Also, there is no way, that I know of, to back up your stuff. There are programs that claim to do this but in reality they do an export, not a backup. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2010, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-apps-taking-over/524681/4 "2010-01-12T19:12:53Z")
The main advantage is in sharing documents (though that can be done easily on any Microsoft network or, if you want, Sharepoint). The thinking is that you get better documents if more people work on them. Because, as everyone knows, that the first step in getting work done efficiently, simply, and with a minimum of problems is to set up a committee. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2010, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-apps-taking-over/524681/5 "2010-01-12T20:34:19Z")
I’ve used the word processor Google App, and have no complaints. Regarding backing up, IIRC you can download all your docs in a zip file. About the same as an export, I guess. With Google Gears, you also have offline access to your docs. ---
**Author:** ![LionelHutz405](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lionelhutz405/32/536_2.png) [@LionelHutz405](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LionelHutz405)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2010, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-apps-taking-over/524681/6 "2010-01-12T21:05:53Z")
It’s important to distinguish between a backup and and export/import. I’d like to backup my Google documents in a format that lets me restore them later, as Google documents. I don’t want to export to a different format as that would lead to problems when it’s time to import and convert them back. Gears allows offline access (not spreadsheets though) but that isn’t the same as a backup. Backup and restore of your critical documents is trivial if you are using Word or Excel If you move to Google docs it’s a pain. ---
**Author:** ![Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e480ec/32.png) [@Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Least_Original_User_Name_Ever)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2010, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-apps-taking-over/524681/7 "2010-01-12T22:40:21Z")
My previous employer was notified that we had the biggest Google Document in history. Google Documents can eat up big jobs, but sometimes it gets connection-type problems. If your connection is getting weird, it can be iffy. If you have a solid connection, it’s all gravy. I presume they’re upgrading their cloud computing for increased Google Wave traffic, as well. I still use Google Docs for this employer and they work like a charm. ---
**Author:** ![Kaio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c68b51/32.png) [@Kaio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kaio)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2010, 8:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-apps-taking-over/524681/8 "2010-01-13T08:03:30Z")
The spreadsheet functionality is limited. If there’s a filter function, I haven’t found it. It’s fine for sharing documents at a basic data-entry level, but if I want to manipulate the data I end up doing it in the appropriate Office program.