PCWorld - Microsoft's decision to finally address the Google Docs threat and put fully-functional Office apps on the Web will resonate with consumers more than businesses, which have been slow to move to Web-based productivity tools, according to tech research firm Forrester.
"The Web-based tools threat to Microsoft is a consumer threat," says Sheri McLeish, an analyst at Forrester. "Enterprise adoption of Web-based tools has been slow."
Of course, that adoption rate may pick up as 2009 wears on, given the extraordinary pressure on IT costs due to the economic downturn.
According to Forrester research, enterprises are less likely to move off the desktop version of Office and have not expressed a strong desire to have Office applications on mobile devices. This could make Microsoft's all but confirmed move to have Office Web Apps run on the iPhone an underwhelming event for businesses, says McLeish.
"Office docs do not lend themselves well to the small screen size of an iPhone," she says.
Read More
