Web 2.0: Google to Add Presentations App to Free Suite

Google will add a presentations application to its free Docs &Spreadsheets package.

Google Inc. is adding a presentations application to Docs &Spreadsheets, narrowing the competitive space between this productivity and collaboration hosted suite and Microsoft Corp.'s Office suite.

Google CEO Eric Schmidt made the announcement at the Web 2.0 Expo event in San Francisco Tuesday during a keynote appearance. The move had been widely expected, as Google has embarked on developing hosted communication and collaboration products for organizations.

Now, Docs &Spreadsheets features a word processor, a spreadsheet and a presentations application, but Schmidt said the suite isn't a direct competitor to Office, because Docs &Spreadsheets doesn't have all of Office's functionality and it's more focused on Web collaboration than Office, which is a desktop-centric product.

It wasn't clear from Schmidt's brief comments if the presentation application will immediately become part of Google Apps, Google's communication and collaboration suite for organizations, which also includes Gmail and other hosted services. Docs &Spreadsheets is a part of Google Apps.

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