Google deal puts squeeze on Microsoft

Last Modified: 12 Sep 2007
By: Channel 4 News

Google struck a deal today with Europe's largest consultancy firm which open the way to get its word processor and spreadsheets on the desktops of some of the continents biggest companies.

By agreeing to support the Google Apps software package, Capgemini is promising to install and support an alternative to Microsoft Office, the de facto desktop applications package for firms large and small.

For the first time since WordPerfect dominated the word processing market and Lotus 1-2-3 outscored Excel more than a dozen years ago, Microsoft has a serious competitor.

For the first time since WordPerfect dominated the word processing market and Lotus 1-2-3 outscored Excel more than a dozen years ago, Microsoft has a serious competitor.

The Google Apps package includes Google's Email service Gmail and word processor, spreadsheet and business presentation software.

Capgemini global outsourcing chief executive Paul Spence said in a statement: "Incorporating Google Apps Premier Edition into our offering is yet one more way that we are helping our clients adopt technological innovations within a robust and tested framework."

Last month, five US universities signed on for Googleinternet-based applications - following in the footsteps of Hebrew University in Jerusalem, Trinity College in Dublin and Nihon University in Tokyo.