Wednesday, June 6, 2012

Google is buying QuickOffice - here's what that means


    

Yesterday, Google announced that it was buying QuickOffice. QuickOffice is a mobile app that allows users to view, edit, and create documents, spreadsheets and presentations, including Microsoft Office files. It integrates with Google Docs™, Dropbox, Evernote, Catch, Egnyte, Huddle™, Box, SugarSync, and MobileMe™, allowing you to access and work with your files on your mobile device.

Google will be integrating QuickOffice into Google Apps. I'm assuming we are going to see Google using QuickOffice in Google Drive to allow more seemless access to files other than Google Docs files. You can store any files on Google Drive, but office files have to be converted to Docs formats before editing. If Google integrates QuickOffice into Drive that will not be a problem. I can currently access my Google Drive files  I'm also going to assume that Google will integrate QuickOffice into Google+, since they are integrating most of their apps with Google+. This could also give Chromebooks a better offline system for handling office files.

Google Docs doesn't work great on iOS (yet) but QuickOffice does. This could be a great boon for iOS users.


The announcement from Google also states that they will continue to support QuickOffice as it exists now, which makes people like me very happy. QuickOffice, along with Google Apps and Evernote, are my main apps that I use on my smart phone to get work done anywhere.




Related:

QuickOffice - essential app for mobile devices
Google for Education Resources

Google Drive is here! Really! No, I mean it. Free online storage.
Android for Education resources and apps