It looks that Google means it really seriously. They announced that their Google Docs pack will be extended by unspecified presentation application, which should provide similar features as Microsoft Powerpoint. Google did not give a time frame for when the app would be released to the public, but a post on the Official Google Blog confirmed the announcement and said that they expect the app to be released this summer. Currently, Google Docs & Spreadsheets offers word processing and spreadsheet creation and editing, similar to that of Microsoft Office and other office suites. However, one advantage that Microsoft maintained over Google was the availability of PowerPoint, the nearly ubiquitous presentation creation app that is bundled with most versions of Office. The addition of a Google app to mirror PowerPoint’s capabilities will complete the missing link in making Google Docs into something approaching a fully-fledged alternative to Office.

Google will not be building the application from scratch. They instead have acquired Tonic Systems, the creators of Java-based PowerPoint automation products. “They have some great technology for presentation creation and document conversion, and it will be a great addition as we add presentation sharing and collaboration capabilities to Google Docs & Spreadsheets,” wrote engineering director Sam Schillace on the company’s blog. However, Google CEO Eric Schmidt maintained that it wasn’t about competing with Microsoft, according to ZDNet. “We don’t think its a competitor to Microsoft Office,” he said in an onstage interview with John Battelle. “It’s casual and sharing and a better fit to how people use the Web. My guess is many companies in the audience are building products like this or other variants of this using the emerging architecture.” I think this application will not influent too many users, because many of home consumers don’t even know something like PowerPoint exists and they never used it…

Source: ZDnet, Itweek

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