JEFFERSON GRAHAM, USA TODAY
Google is adding another tool in its battle with Microsoft: A free version of presentation software.
The yet-to-be-named software will be included in Google Apps, an online suite that includes free word processing, spreadsheet and calendar programs. Users will work with the program online but will be able to save files and view them offline. It's expected to be available this summer.
Microsoft's PowerPoint, part of the Office suite, is one of the most-used applications for office meetings. Companies pay upward of $300 yearly for Office licenses, making it one of Microsoft's most lucrative franchises.
At the Web 2.0 Expo conference in San Francisco, Google CEO Eric Schmidt denied, as he has in the past, that the online tools are aimed at luring people away from Microsoft.
"We believe we can bring presentations to a new level of user satisfaction," he said. "We don't think it competes with Microsoft, because it doesn't have all the functionality of Office. It's a different way of sharing information, more casual, and a better fit to how people use the Web."
Mike McGuire, an analyst at researcher Gartner, doesn't buy it. He says "it's getting harder to take comments like that at face value. Of course Google is taking on Microsoft. Microsoft has lots to worry about."
McGuire doesn't think Microsoft's large base of corporate clients will immediately abandon Office, "but for individuals, Google is offering a strong, free alternative and people will look at it very seriously."
Google announced a deal Friday to buy online ad firm DoubleClick for $3.1 billion, which Microsoft contends violates antitrust rules. The deal is Google's biggest ever, following its $1.6 billion acquisition of video-sharing site YouTube last year.
On Monday, Google announced an alliance with radio broadcaster Clear Channel that lets users of Google's online advertising network buy radio ads directly from their computer.
Schmidt said he is delighted at having YouTube in the Google family, despite controversy over unauthorized video clips showing up on the service. Viacom has filed a $1 billion copyright infringement suit against Google. On Tuesday, Schmidt said he thinks the company is just "negotiating" to get a settlement. He said Google will soon introduce a tool to take down unauthorized clips automatically, "which will make all of this moot."
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