The search king's free Web-based business software has 100,000 small-biz clients. But will big corporate fish bite for a paid "premier" version?
Noah Sachs, general counsel, business development director, and resident computer expert at a biotechnology startup named Enzymatics, has one word for the holdouts who still use Microsoft Office to create documents and spreadsheets. They're "curmudgeons," he sniffs.
Most of the people at the 10-employee company use Web-based software from Google (GOOG) for these tasks and e-mail. Since they're all delivered online, "any computer I sit down at becomes my computer," says Sachs. Enzymatics, based in Beverly, Mass., is experimenting with other Google software, too, including a specialized search engine that combs competitors' Web sites for information on rival products and prices. To build such a tool from scratch using Microsoft (MSFT) software would have entailed buying multiple product licenses. "I have enough on my plate without having to worry about that," he says.
Full article: businessweek.com
