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Alternatives to MS Office

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NoWindows

 

With more businesses moving to the cloud, and Google Apps in particular, one of the questions that comes up is whether organizations still need MS Office.  The fact that MS Office use is drastically lower than peceived within most companies is a subject for another post.

For many organizations, they still need a solution for existing (legacy) documents as well as documents shared with them by others still using MS Office.  The good news is that you have a number of strong competitors that are free, or very low cost, and that run across multiple platforms.  Here a few.

Kingsoft Office

Cost:  Free; Premium Edition for Windows is $69.95
Platforms:  Windows, Android, iOS, Linux

Kingsoft Office is a free MS Office compatible suite available on Windows, Android (including Samsung devices and International), iOS (iPad and iPhone), and Linux.  The suite integrates with Google Drive, as well as Box and Dropbox.

Office Suite from Mobile Systems Inc.

Cost: Android: Free or $9.99 for Premium; iOS: $1.99 (promotion; normally $14.99)
Platforms: Android, iOS

Work with and print Office format documents, as well as PDF and ZIP files.  A file manager works with local files and attachments on smartphones and tablets and can also access Google Drive, Box, Dropbox, OneDrive and SugarSync, plus sharing via email, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi Direct.

QuickOffice form Google

Cost: Free with Google Apps account
Platforms: Android, iOS

Edit Word, Excel and PowerPoint files read PDFs.  Works only with Google Drive and supports printing to Wi-Fi printers.

DocstoGo from DataViz

Cost: Free
Platforms: Android, iOS

Supports MS Office 97, 2010, and 2013 formats.  An in-app purchase is required to use Google Drive, Box, Dropbox, and OneDrive.

Polaris Office 5

Cost: Free
Platforms: Android, iOS

Allows workgroups to use email or social contacts to collaborate on documents.  Works with Google Drive, Box, Dropbox and other WebDAV sites. The iOS version supports OneDrive as well.

CloudOn

Cost: Free; Pro version for $3.99 per month includes printing
Platforms: Android, iOS

Rather than building apps to execute on the local device, the CloudOn connects to a free service that executes Office apps in the cloud, and opens and edits files there. Only screen updates and gestures go back and forth. CloudOn saves to a Google Drive, Box, Dropbox or OneDrive account.

Gmail: Save Attachments to Drive (it’s about time!)

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Drive-Attachment
Finally!  OMG!  Booyah!  Oh, Vey!

You can now save attachments directly to Drive from within Gmail messages.

Rolling out to Google Apps for Business, Government, and Education over the next week or so, you no longer need to download to your desktop or “Downloads” folder and then sync or upload files in Drive.

From inside the message, you can preview or save files directly into drive, with the ability to browse and select folders.

Click here for more info and usage examples.

Easier Sharing of Google Docs; Watch Your Permissions

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google drive
Google is making it easier to share Google Docs, Drawings, and Slides (not Sheets) with people outside your Google Apps for Business domain.

  • Files shared outside your domain to an email address not linked to an existing Google Account can be viewed without having to sign in or create a new Google Account.
  • If a file is shared with edit or comment permissions, the recieving user must still sign in with a Google Account in order to edit or comment on that file.

This change actually reflects a new “invitation” model.  When a user directly shares with individuals who do not have Google Accounts, those recipients will be able to view the file without signing in. Because no sign in is required, anyone may view the file with this sharing link until the person who the file was explicitly shared with creates a Google Account and expends the invitation.

Once the person creates a Google Account two things happen: (1) the sharing link will no longer work for new users to access the file and the sharing dialog will indicate that the invitation has been used; (2) any user who accessed the file using the sharing link while it was open and signed in using their Google Account will be added to the sharing access list for that file and will continue to have access. Users with permissions to change sharing settings can revoke this access if desired.

While you can prevent this behavior by disabling sharing outside the domain to people who are not using a Google Account via settings in the Admin console, the change makes monitoring of Google Drive permissions more important to maintaining a secure ecosystem.

Tools, such as CloudLock, provide a means for monitoring and managing permissions, helping ensure that sensitive data remains secure.  Contact us if you would like more information.

 

 

Gmail and Drive: Finally Together

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The wait is over!  With the next release cycle of Google Apps, you will be able to insert/attach any file up to 10GB in size from Google Drive.   Rather than sending files which may exceed size limits on many email services, recipients receive a link and the ability to open or download the file via Google Drive (no account needed).

And, if you are sending a file to somebody without access permissions, the smart assistant will let you know.

For more info, visit the Official Gmail Blog.