Google has just announced the acquisition of DocVerse, a startup that adds Google Docs-like functionality to Microsoft Office.
In a blog post, Google explains “we recognise that many people are still accustomed to desktop software. So as we continue to improve Google Docs and Google Sites as rich collaboration tools, we’re also making it easier for people to transition to the cloud, and interoperate with desktop applications like Microsoft Office.” That’s exactly what DocVerse will help them do.
“You can invite friends and colleagues to collaborate on any documents. As you and others make edits, those changes are synced to the cloud. In addition to a hard copy, the plug-in automatically saves a web-based version of the doc that others can see to make collaboration easy.
It’s not just the instant collaboration though – there are also some great discussion and tracking features via the DocVerse sidebar. One allows you to IM anybody collaborating on the document in question. Another lets you track the most recent changes and by whom they were made. Finally, the version history tab lets you see a larger overview of the history of the document.”
In other words, DocVerse brings much of the functionality that Google Docs users are accustomed to into the desktop world of Microsoft Office, which still holds the vast majority of the market.
Microsoft offers its own features for pushing Office data to the cloud – Live Office Workspaces – and is soon to launch a complete web-based version of the Office suite with Microsoft Office 2010.
Currently, DocVerse isn’t free. It will be interesting to see if one of Google’s first moves is to make it so (or just make it an included part of Google Apps).