Okay, I promise, I'll get off this topic after today, but I just ran across this article at Baseline which reinforces my basic point from yesterday: Google is going after business customers. Microsoft's Live Workspaces really is not (or is doing a damn poor job of it if that was their intention). The idea that these are somehow in competition continues to be somewhat boggling to me. Live Workspaces is not much more than shared document storage-closer to what Box.net offers than Google Office, which has collaborative features to be sure, but actually represents a very different way of provisioning application services to staff than the traditional desktop model does.

As is clear from the Baseline intervial with Google Enterprise's General Manager Dave Girouard (and, I would think, from the entire thrust of their GAPE offering), they're not simply aiming for hosting storage for enterprise documents. They're trying to move applications tested in the personal realm into a real, cohesive enterprise utility. Contrast this with Microsoft's Live Workspace, taking what had been primarily business-oriented software (SharePoint) and offering it to individuals. I'm not saying this isn't a great service-it's terrific if you are a very small business and couldn't afford Sharepoint-but it's almost the opposite of what Google is trying for.

The whole competition angle seems to me to be artificial and manufactured.