When Microsoft launched “Live Workspaces” last year we were sufficiently underwhelmed. But Microsoft didn’t have to wow us. The software giant could, and has been taking its time playing catch-up with web enabled productivity suites (namely Google Docs) while it continues milking the desktop software cash cow.
So far much of the competition has been centered around web apps that mimic the majority of functions users need (Google Docs, Zoho, Thinkfree, Transmedia, LiveDocuments). However, two former Microsoft employees, Shan Sinha and Alex DeNeui, are bringing web-top-like sharing and collaboration to the Microsoft Office Suite millions of people already own.
We have 200 Beta invites available here.
Their company, DocVerse, is making light-weight plugins for Microsoft office that let users share and collaboratively edit documents within Microsoft Office and on the web. Their first release is for Microsoft Powerpoint. The plugin is ideal for people looking to quickly iterate on a presentation.
DocVerse’s functionality balances the collaborative power of web-based editors and full functionality enabled by file syncing solutions (like Dropbox or Box.net).
When a user installs a plugin and creates a DocVerse account, any changes they make to a presentation linked to DocVerse is synced in near real time to a copy in the cloud. The user can then share that file through a url publicly or privately behind a login screen on their web-top Flash-based client. The viewer can also make edits or add comments to the document from the web. Each edit becomes part of a “news feed” listing all the updates the document has undergone.
Saving them updates both the web and desktop versions. If two people save edits to the same element, the owner is asked to approve the changes. Version control ensures you can always revert if you make a mistake.
While Microsoft is a clear and present competitor, DocVerse is betting they can release a better product sooner.
Can I invite people or can I only share documents with the 200 TechCrunch users who are in on the beta?
@Andy- Shan here from DocVerse.
Great question! We’re running out of invites as we speak, but if you’re able to grab one, once you install the app, you can share a document with anyone using DocVerse.
Anyone you share a document with will be able to download the plug-in as well!
Look forward to your feedback!
Shan
Awesome. This thing is incredible. I’m in business school and this looks like it’s going to be the killer app for document sharing. It’s so simple and it just works. Love the small things like being able to attach a document to the email reply. Hope you get Word done soon.
Thanks for the comments Andy. We’re busy continuing to fix and improve our support for PowerPoint while we build support for the rest of Office as well.
Stay tuned! Support for the rest of Office and Office 2003 will be coming over the next couple of months.
Pass along the link the tech crunch invite link to your classmates! We’re looking to get all the feedback we can get.
Best
Shan
how if the rule about private lable right of the writting?
Wow! This is very cool. Thanks for the heads up on this.
This is really well done. Congrats DocVerse team!
Refreshing TechCrunch every 5 minutes has finally paid off.
App looks great.
Businesses want to stop paying for Office, not turn office into Google docs.
The whole point is to eliminate fees while conserving functionality. Docverse misses the point.
Google gets it.
Google gets what? That advertising pays for everything?
Or that Fortune 500 companies have an issue with paying for software licenses? WTF? We’d better alert SAP and Oracle as well so they can follow the brilliant “everything is (kinda) free” Google strategy!
I don’t think it’s Docverse that misses the point Chris.
Businesses might want to stop paying license fees, but that’s just the CFO’s speaking. Users in the business just want their software to help them do their jobs – online collaboration fits quite nicely, expecially in a big desktop app like Office.
I think they get the point very well.
But, it’s also a point MS has known about for years, and is actively working on.
once google apps delivers sufficient functionality for a particular business, the CFO will get their way. we (an IT support co) are just starting to see this, but the gap vs MS Office is still too big for most. i expect we’ll start losing MS licensing revenues in 2010, not this year. the CFO rules (unfortunately for us)
but one fundamental problem will fully-hosted apps is that browser code lacks horsepower – google spreadsheets grind to a halt with a one-year P&L. if javascript can’t deliver, then the DocVerse approach will have a good run
@lazysupper – all companies have an issue with costs – the larger the co, the sharper they are at leaning on them, and not just in a recession. talk to any vendor…
@shan – looks good. one essential thing missing from most of these apps/services is a traditiional shared file area – where a business can set up a set of hierarchical folders and documents that various groups of people have access to. searching (google docs) is not enough – businesses need to be able to centrally manage a folder structure that everyone sees
-ben
Ben- thanks for your thoughts. Our view is that it will be a while before Microsoft’s 90% market share monopoly is at any significant risk. That’s not to say they don’t need to get the web and web collaboration figured out, but that they do have time. Market stats don’t lie… 30% of the market is running Office 2000(!!) or older. Another 30% is running Office 2003.
If there are people who haven’t even upgraded Office 2000 to Office 2003, much less to get up to Office 2007 (which have MORE features and perform FASTER than the predecessors), one can be assured that the transition to a completely different product like Google Docs will happen much more slowly, especially given that it only offers a microscopic portion of what Office provides.
Again- that’s not to say that a trend toward web based collaboration is not happening. Our view is that desktop editing and web editing are actually complementary, not substitutes, in the same way that people access email through their desktops sometimes and through the browser sometimes.
On your specific comment about a traditional shared file area, we agree with you that there is such a need. We have plans on our roadmap for this type of functionality, but our goal is to first create the best experience at the point of authoring and sharing a document. Most tools in this space start with solving the problem you described above, but ultimately become unwieldy because they don’t take into account the fact that most people start by creating documents on their desktop.
Cheers
Shan
I agree with Chris. Whole point that Google docs or Zoho or for that matter Open Office is popular because it is free and can be used without MS Office.
Businesses actually use the 90% of features that GDocs doesn’t offer.
Until GDocs gets those features, it doesn’t matter how free it is.
Good to see a post from you, Nick :)
Google Apps will be a disruptive force against Microsoft and IBM. Don’t underestimate it.
Innovating startups like DocVerse look interesting at first. However, we are dealing with a land grab here and the big three or four players out there will be where the real competition is.
Some people scoff at Google because they aren’t “Enterprisey” – but they are building up their product set very fast and will be feature-by-feature competitive with the other big players soon, if not already. One thing Google knows is the web; the “traditional” IT players are fighting them on their own turf.
This is a remarkably pointless product.
First, you still have to pay Microsoft for the Office Apps to use this. So what value is Docverse adding precisely? An add-in. That’s it.
I can easily upload any Office document to one of hundreds of online storage sites. There may not be automaic syncing, but so what? And anything that stillt ethers you to a particular desktop is not really convenient. Cloud computing this is not.
Besides which, Microsoft’s Office Live already offers exactly the same add-in- for free:
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/officelive/FX102382801033.aspx
This is just another startup hoping to make a quick buck. Long-term business potential? Zero- especially when Microsoft introduces it’s fully web-based versions of Office with Windows 7.
i don’t see anything very extraordinary than the usual zoho, box.net and hibernater.com, thus why are they featured so prominently?
Underwhelmed. Google Docs does this already without using M$ Office.
For me, using MS Office rather than Google Docs is actually a strength, not a weakness. Google Docs’ features are a pitiful subset of MS Office features right now.
Nice! Looking forward to seeing this with working with Excel and Word!
Agreed with Jim, underwhelmed. Nothing fanciful as of now.
Side note to Henry, thanks for the recommendation! tried hibernater.com and it is quite a nice app.
Looks great, Docverse guys. I have XP, alas no Office 2007 , only 2003. Once you have it, will use it immediately. I agree, Google Docs doesn´t quite have it yet IMHO. I use it regularly , though.
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Thanks so much.
I think this a great space to be in. I feel that Office offers a lot over Google Docs. We have been working on something very similar at LivelyDocs. It is basically a cross between Sharepoint and Google Docs. Offering the best of both worlds and trying to remove some of the downsides of each. Namely document locking in Sharepoint and the lack of features in Google Docs. Right now we are in closed beta, but will be opening up soon.
First off, I don think the technology would be a great addition to any Office-suite.
@Nick – I don’t think DocVerse is *really* competing with Microsoft, as much as they are hoping to be acquired. So many start-ups are simply a technical “proof of concept” of a very narrow use case that is simply too ingenious/audacious for the larger vendors to self-innovate. In the same vein, they don’t have the legs to stand on their own. Business model?
Many small businesses, as well as big businesses, have their own systems integrated into MS Office. Until those systems support Google Docs, Zoho, or any other online word processing app, the shift to using online document editors is not going to happen. Our CRM system is tied into office. We have to use office (and quite frankly, prefer to use it).
You can email estimates or PDF invoices as an attachment to offer clients their very own electronic copies. You can even have the ability to save the PDF files of your business invoices for personal records as well. One service that I didn’t see on the list is: http://www.orangepoint.net. They offer Phone Broadcasting, Voice Broadcasting, etc.
Google Apps will be a disruptive force against Microsoft and IBM. Don’t underestimate it.
Innovating startups like DocVerse look interesting at first. However, we are dealing with a land grab here and the big three or four players out there will be where the real competition is.
Some people scoff at Google because they aren’t “Enterprisey” – but they are building up their product set very fast and will be feature-by-feature competitive with the other big players soon, if not already. One thing Google knows is the web; the “traditional” IT players are fighting them on their own turf.
imo, the product has it’s purpose. however, it’s unfortunate that you still need the Office Suite to make the content connection to Google Docs.
my company, Markzware just released a stand-alone, desktop search and content extraction product, PageZephyr. It doesn’t need the native application.