Am I the only who finds Forrester analyst JP Gowdner’s blog proclamation that “Office 2010, Microsoft’s latest release, will continue to succeed with consumers” and “In terms of usage and penetration, Google Docs remains a failure” on the eve of Office 2010’s arrival to retails stores be a little… suspicious? Could it have anything to do with Microsoft’s just launched $80 million Office 2010 ad campaign?
Gowdner, who covers the consumer market and not the business market, maintains that Microsoft Office 2010 is going to stay on top because:”The browser-based experience remains limited;” “Consumers have a deep, longstanding relationship with Office; and “Local computing power is plentiful and cheap.”
To which I say, so what? Those aren’t reasons for Office to do well. They’re reasons to stick with what you already have. I expect Office 2010 to stagnate on the market. Gowdner, and Microsoft, who he quotes, sees Office 2010’s point as being “To sell packaged client software and offer Web-based services to augment the experience.”
To that I say, excuse me? Sell boxed software in 2010? What planet are you from?