www.pcpro.co.uk 18 Afew years ago, the suggestion that Google could produce a viable alternative to Microsoft Office would have been laughable – but its Apps suite has become a valid and useful business tool. But the release of Office 365 has dramatically changed the online apps landscape again. Office 365 isn’t a new version of the Microsoft’s deskto p suite: it’s a cloud service that includes online versions of the tools that IT professionals the world over have come to love and, more importantly, rely upon. There’s Exchange Online complete with Forefront malware and spam protection; SharePoint document management; and Lync Online for real-time communications (think presence, instant messaging and audio and video calls). Yo u also benefi t f rom online vers ions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote and Outlook – and some subscriptions include the desktop-based Office Professional Plus 2010. Google Apps for Business provides a similar suite of products and services. There’s Gmail with Postini spam and malware filtering, Calendar and Contacts, Google Docs, Chat, Groups mailing lists and Sites (for both intranet and public websites). So to the big question: which is best for your business? That’s what this feature aims to find out, as we put both through real-world tests and pitch them in battle in all the key areas. Usability As cloud services, both Google Apps and Office 365 are managed online. Despite the simple layout, the Google Apps control panel is confusing until you learn where everything is. Options are scattered between Domain Settings, Settings, Advanced tools and the various links from the Dashboard tab. To make matters worse, the Dashboard is cluttered with adverts for optional tools in the Google App marketplace, as well as adverts for new features. Office 365’s admin console is much cleaner, with a pane for switching between managing users, services and domains, plus clear explanations of what the main management tools are for. There are also handy shortcuts at the bottom of the window, and links to relevant resources and community discussions. Google Apps has two levels of administr ation rights: the “Super Admin” who has full access, and standard administrators to whom you can delegate administration tasks. You can give different users a different mix of rights, but you have to remember who can do what. Office 365 has five named admin roles. You can give someone the rights to manage billing, passwords, users or services separately if you don’t want them to have full admin rights. If you need more granularity, you can also set up administrator roles for Discovery Management, Records Management, Uni fied Messaging Management and other tasks in the Exchange control panel. It’s more complex than Google Apps, but enterprises will welcome the option. WINNER: OFFICE 365.Microsoft’s administration interface is better organised, and easier to handle when delegating management rights to others. Setup and user management Google Apps’ setup guide walks you through tasks such as verifying the domain you’re using, creating user accounts and changing your MX records to point to Gmail (you need your own domain to use Google Apps). It’s mostly clear and simple, but duplicated instructions and a sometimes circuitous interface make setup a fragmented experience. The Postini spam service setup wizard tells you it may take up to an hour, and again you have to change the MX records to redirect mail to the Postini service, and configure some settings in MARY BRANSCOMBEPUTS THE TWO LEADING CLOUDBASED OFFICE SUITES TO THE TEST, TO DISCOVER WHICH ONE IS BEST SUITED TO BUSINESS Of fi ce 365 vs Google Apps PC PROwww.pcpro.co.uk Feature The end of the net as know it Feature Of fice 365 vs Google Apps
