A recent U.S. survey reveals that Web 2.0 Office Productivity suites are not getting any much attention from users. The lack of awareness is a little surprising considering that all the web office wars have been going around between Microsoft and Google.
Get this — 94% of the PC users asked did not know or have never heard of Web-based productivity suite alternatives.
NPD asked nearly 600 PC users: “Have you heard about online, browser-based office productivity applications like Google Docs, Google Spreadsheets, gOffice, etc.?” NPD also asked, “If so, how often do you use them?”
Only 0.5% have actually substituted Web-based productivity suites for desktop software such as Microsoft Office and experts says it’s even a bit high.
“The survey results show not only that SAAS [Software as a Service] firms have a long way to go to build brand awareness and trust among PC users. but it points to how powerful the Office brand still is, and how difficult it will probably be for most of these firms to dislodge huge swaths of Office users from the grips of Microsoft,” Swenson said.
Google Docs and Spreadsheets perhaps is the most visible of the Web-based Office alternatives. But usage is still nascent. “My estimate is 840 million PCs-in-use by the end of 2007—that’s about 0.18 percent of PCs,” Swenson said.
The figures could be much much lower outside of the US. So, I’m wondering is it really that hard to switch? Can we take a survey? Has any of you used web-based office tools? If so, which ones and how many times in the last 30 days?
on top of my head, i can think of two things that are probably making web office productivity a NOT so popular alternative in the philippines:
1. serious commitment from internet service providers
2. the ability to automate synchronization of documents for offline editing.
if these two things are bridged, maybe, just maybe, this technology will find more traction