Hintonblogger

versus

I just got a new PDA phone, an Alltel HTC 6800, and this has prompted a re-evaluation of how I use the Internet, email, and calendaring solutions in this Web 2.0 data-enabled world. The concept of "syncing in the clouds" where data is available online, on the desktop, and on the mobile device in a format that is optimized for each environment (i.e. rich client on the desktop, rich web client, and easy-to-use mobile version) holds tremendous potential (and frustration at times). There are various Web 2.0 companies that provide multiple pieces of my ultimate productivity suite, (Zoho is a great example), but Google and Microsoft are the only ones that offer integrated solutions. My brother has been a long-time proponent of Microsoft's solutions, but I think they have been playing catch-up to the rest, Google especially, but MS seems like they may be clueing into things lately.From my experience here is how the Google-MS office/productivity/collaboration tools offering compares:

The score is (each "win" counts as 1 point): Google - 5, Microsoft - 4, so the winner is.....Microsoft! What you say? Is this math according to Microsoft? The answer comes down to mobile integration with contacts pure and simple. I refuse to maintain contact information in two places and I need it accessible so that I can call it on my phone, as well as use it to email and I don't want to have to bother with exporting/importing when things change. Gmail's lack of contact sync (which has been requested here) is a killer for me here. The mobile device integration is also slightly slanted towards Microsoft at this point (though Google's Android initiative and purported intent to bid on the 700mhz spectrum seem to indicate lots of new competition for the future). I'll post some more detail (i.e. my rationale for the scoring) over a few posts in the next couple of weeks.