#Google_Workspace #GWS #Upstra
Google apps are easier to use and better for collaboration, but Microsoft Office isn’t without its benefits.
Productivity is king, and the reigning king of productivity suites has been Microsoft Office for as long as most of us can remember. But a quiet coup has been afoot for at least the last decade, and savvy users and businesses have been gradually switching from Microsoft’s suite to Google Workspace apps.
1. Google Workspace is mostly free, and for businesses it’s pretty cheap.
Robert Strohmeyer / PCWorld
Microsoft has been charging hundreds of dollars for its Office suite for as long as Office has been a thing. Today, Office 365 comes in a variety of slightly different and apparently arbitrary versions consisting of different combinations of its various applications at prices ranging from $70 a year for Personal to $264 a year for Business Premium. Yes, business rates are comparable, $72 and $264 annually, with larger enterprises getting reduced rates off the big bundle. But for personal use, Google apps are flat-out free. Not a penny. Just create an account and do your thing. Even my kids figured this out on their own, as did all their friends.
2. Google offers easier collaboration.
From its inception, Google’s app suite was built for collaboration. Being internet-first, Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, etc., were conceived at a time when sharing and collaborating on documents had become the norm for a new generation of workers, and Microsoft was years behind in that area. While Office 265 has stepped things up, Microsoft’s collaboration experience remains kludgy and confusing, relying on Sharepoint and OneDrive back ends. But Google apps make it easier to see who’s doing what, find and revert changes, and get it all done in real time without waiting for different users to save their changes.
3. Seamless access from anywhere
Both Office365 and Google Workspace live online and are accessible from any device, but Google’s system was designed for easy access and sharability first, where Microsoft Office has a business-grade security bias that results in a lot of annoying hurdles to easy access and sharing. Whether you’re on a browser or using Google’s native apps on a mobile device, getting to Google Drive is always easier than hassling with Microsoft OneDrive. Chances are that anyone you want to share something with has a Gmail account, and that’s all it takes to access Google Drive.
4. Google continually adds extensive integrations
When you buy a given version of Office365 (the basic personal edition gives you six apps plus Defender and OneDrive), you get a fixed collection of apps. By contrast, Google Workspace is always expanding. Pop open the Google Apps menu in the top-right corner of Google apps and you get a list of more than 20 apps, ranging from Docs and Sheets to Keep, Forms, and Voice, and even Youtube. Google’s ecosystem of apps all work with Google Workspace in one way or another, making it easy to share your documents and content between them.
5. You probably already have Google Apps
Unless you’re one of those people who never signed up for a Gmail account, you probably already have Google Workspace and you’re probably already using it. For free. There’s nothing more to do or buy. Just embrace it.