SearchEngineUpdate with Vanessa Zamora - 05-22-2008 Part I
Abstract: 1. Google Sites Launches To The Public, 2. Microsoft Office To Adopt Other File Formats
Vanessa Zamora
Video Content Producer, SearchEngineWorld
4:12 pm on May 22, 2008 (utc 0)
Transcript
Thursday May 22, 2008
Google Sites Launches To The Public
Google Sites, a service initially only available as part of Google Apps for companies and organizations, is now open to anyone who wants to set up a collaborative web site hosted by Google. Google Sites enables users to easily create a Web site from scratch, with the ability to embed documents, calendars, photos, videos, and gadgets directly to those pages. Web site creators can invite other users to see or edit the page, with the ability to change access privileges at any time. Google Sites started out as JotSpot before it was acquired by Google and re-launched a few months ago as part of Google Apps for businesses, schools and organizations with their own domain names.
Microsoft has announced it will open its Office product, code named Office 14, to other file formats including the Open Document Format, which is a rival format to Office’s native format, the Portable Document Format, and XML Paper Specification, due in the first half of next year. Going a step beyond add-ons, Microsoft is building ODF and PDF support directly into Office. The Microsoft plan will enable users to open, edit and save documents in the competitor ODF format through a free update. Microsoft customers will also be able to choose their default format. Microsoft has come under pressure from European regulators, national standards organizations and its own governments clients regarding its longstanding defense of its proprietary software. Despite the decision that should make Microsoft programs more compatible with rival software, The European Commission will investigate whether Microsoft's decision to add support for the Open Document Format to Office will result in greater consumer choice.
4:12 pm on May 22, 2008 (utc 0)