Google strengthening its foothold in the Microsoft dominated Territory
Google has just bought Jotspot, a silicon Valley startup that helped pioneer the market for collaborative business software like online spreadsheets. This is Google’s latest move into territory dominated by Microsoft.
Three year old Jotspot had developed a series of online productivity software programs that offer many of the functions of Microsoft Office programs like Microsoft Word or Excel spreadsheets. But instead of running on individual computers, Jotspot applications are delivered as Web-based services. Jotspot’s programs run on collaborative wiki software, a flexible form of Web publishing for groups that allows any approved user to edit or change individual documents. The 27-employee company has helped popularize the idea that wikis are not just for software geeks but can be used within small groups by non-technical office workers or family groups to accomplish practical scheduling or financial tasks.
Following the lead of companies like Jotspot, Mountain View, California-based Google entered the market this year by acquiring the Writely word processor and introducing other Web-based applications such as Google spreadsheets and Google calendar.
“It was pretty apparent that Google shared out vision for how groups of people can create, manage and share information online,” said Mr. Kraus, Jotspot’s co-founder and CEO. He was also a co-founder of Excite, one of the first internet search sites started in 1994.
Now, who dareth say Google is just a Web search player?