Blogging Task9:
Feature-by-Feature Comparison
Between Google Docs & Office Live Workspace.
I have login in both Google Docs and Office Live Workspace and I found the following differences between them.
Both Google Docs and Office Live Workspace are free services, but each has its own unique set of features.
Storage Space
Microsoft Office Live Workspace is limited to 500 MB of space, which equates to about 1000 Microsoft Office documents.
I found it hard to pin down Google Docs storage space. Going into the basic information section of docs.google.com, I found two sentences stating: “Each user has a combined limit of 5000 documents and presentations and 5000 images,” and “Each user has a limit of 1000 spreadsheets.” However, an actual quota in MB was not specified.
File Types
Google Docs is limited to the types of files their service allows you to edit online: HTML, .txt, .doc .rtf, .odt, .xls, .csv, .ods, .tsv, .tsb, .ppt, and .pps.
Office Live Workspace allows you to upload all kinds of files, not only Office document file types. So, in addition, you can upload .PDFs, pictures, or seemingly any kind of file except those on the blocked list, which are blocked to protect users as they are file types Windows sees as executable files.
File Sizes
Google Docs allows for documents of 500 K each, plus up to 2 MB per embedded image. Presentations can be 10 MB in size. Spreadsheets can be 10,000 rows, or up to 256 columns, or up to 100,000 cells, or up to 40 sheets – whichever limit is reached first. Each spreadsheet can have up to 20,000 cells with formulas.
Regardless of the file type, Office Live Workspace allows for individual files as large as 25 MB.
Sharing
Google Docs allows for sharing of a file or files by checking the checkbox next to them and clicking “share” from the menu. Those you are sharing with can be invited as “Collaborators” or “Viewers.” You can add a short note along with the invitation. Documents and presentations can be shared with 200 combined viewers, but spreadsheets have no limit.
Similarly, Office Live Workspace allows you to share documents or workspaces with others and mark them as “editors” or “viewers”. You can add a note along with the message. You can also check a box to allow “everyone to view this without signing in,” and/or a box to “send me a copy of the sharing invitation.” Below, a read-only preview of the file is displayed. Files or workspaces can be shared with up to 100 people.
Both offer address book integration for finding recipients’ email addresses.
Collaboration
In Google Docs, collaborators have the ability to work on files together, in-real time. Ten people may edit and/or view a document or presentation at any given time. Fifty people can edit a spreadsheet at the same time.
Although Office Live Workspace allows for collaboration, it’s not real-time, online collaboration. Instead, if one user is editing a file, another will be informed the file is “checked out.” When they finish editing and save their changes the document is checked back in for other users to access.
Versioning
Both Google Docs and Office Live Workspace keep track of older versions of a file. You can use the web interface of either to roll back to a previous copy.
Batch Uploads
Google Docs allows you to browse for a file on your computer and upload it to the service, one-by-one. Documents and presentations can be emailed in, but not spreadsheets. In January, Google released a document list up loader tool that provides drag-and-drop uploads to the service. Third party tools like DocSyncer can automatically upload your documents from your PC to Google Docs.
Office Live Workspace also allows for Batch Upload, but if you’re not using IE, you won’t see the option. IE users can click on “Add Document” and they will be presented with the option to upload a single document or multiple documents.
