Google’s entrance to the office suite category is quite an interesting story. Back in 2006, Google acquired Upstartle, a small startup that developed a web-based word processor called Writely. Combined with Google Spreadsheets, which was still in the labs at the time, Google Docs formed and it served as a convenient way to create and edit documents online and easily share to others so they can edit as well. The best thing about Google Docs was the fact that it was free but the functionality was lacking compared to a fully-fledged office suite that you use on the desktop like LibreOffice. The service then evolved into Google Drive in 2012 adding cloud storage capabilities in the process while the document and spreadsheet editors continued to receive polishing treatments.
But recently, Google Drive reached a tipping point when Google announced that you can now edit Microsoft document files natively. This eliminates the previous need of converting the Microsoft document file into Google’s document format making document management a lot more seamless. With this small upgrade, Google Drive works really fast and is now ready to take on the desktop office suites. The features of Google Drive are still on the barebones side but they are mature enough for most casual users to use and even better if you wish to take advantage of the enhanced live collaboration features.
Google is making a big push on mobile too by releasing the Slides app which can be used to make presentations. Combined with the separate Docs and Sheets apps, Google finally has a recipe to tempt productive people into their ecosystem. These upgrades were even enough for Google to discontinue their Quickoffice product — a mobile suite that was acquired by Google back in 2012.
With all these cool updates, Google Drive deserves another chance as a productivity tool and is looking much better than when it first launched. It is a big victory for Google fans.