Google vs. Microsoft With Google Pack?

With the addition of Star Office to Google Pack, the search engine appears to be ready to go head to head with Microsoft on productivity applications.

Is Google planning on going head to head with Microsoft? The company hasn’t said so, but if recent moves are anyindication, that could be the case. This clash of the giants could come about because of Google’s software bundle, Google Pack. It now includes Sun-distributed Star Office, the productivity suite that’s at the heart of OpenOffice.org. Star Office normally costs $70, but will come free with Google Pack. It includes word processing, spreadsheet, presentation, graphics, and databaseapplications, along with a library of images and 3D effects.  And that means Google will be positioning itself against Microsoft Office, even more so when Google unleashes its newest assaultlater this summer – new online presentation software that will go up against PowerPoint.   It seems to be a new move for Google, which has long trumpeted its online apps, such as GoogleDocs as collaboration tools. So where will they go next? According to one observer, the likelihood will be a plug-in that allows the synchronization of local documents with Google Docs andSpreadsheets, allowing documents to be edited offline, then collaborate and store online.   That will be a boon to the application programming interface Google Gears. That was rolled out at theend of May to let developers bring offline capabilities to online apps.