Business

Google is putting its DocVerse team to use, unleashing a new plug-in for Google Docs that lets offline Microsoft Word documents talk to Web-based Google Docs files.

DocVerse, acquired by Google earlier this year, has ported its software onto Google's network and is ready to let early testers get a crack at Google Cloud Connect for Microsoft Office. The software lets Microsoft Office users who also have Google Apps accounts sync their documents with Google without having to work within the Google Docs Web interface, creating a Web-based copy of that native document for sharing and collaboration.

Google's been trying for several years … Read more

Google Apps customers are about to get a lot more options as part of their accounts, including one very interesting feature: Google Voice.

Google plans to announce today that it's adding several other Google services--more than 60 different Google services in total--to Google Apps accounts maintained by businesses and educational customers, which already include Google Docs, Gmail, Google Calendar, and Google Sites. On a sour note, Google doesn't plan on extending its service-level agreements with Google Apps customers to cover the new services, and all customers will have to transfer their accounts to a new system to make … Read more

Google and the U.S. government are headed for a legal showdown, but on different sides of the courtroom than one might expect.

Eric Goldman, a law professor with Santa Clara University who closely follows the tech industry, spotted a lawsuit filed by Google against the federal government claiming that the U.S. Department of the Interior did not properly evaluate Google Apps when choosing a new Web-based document system. Google alleges that because the Interior Department specified that the system needed to be part of Microsoft's Business Productivity Online Suite, Google Apps never had a chance despite repeated … Read more

REDMOND, Wash.--Citing a pickup in business spending, Microsoft today reported quarterly earnings and revenue that topped what many had been expecting.

For the three months ended Sept. 30, Microsoft said it earned $5.41 billion in net income, or 62 cents per share, on revenue of $16.2 billion. Sales were up 25 percent from a year earlier, although the prior year results included the effects of a deferral of revenue ahead of the release of Windows 7. Without that, sales were up 13 percent and net income rose 16 percent.

"This was an exceptional quarter combining solid enterprise growth and continue strong consumer demand for Office 2010, Windows 7 and Xbox 360," CFO Peter Klein said in a statement. … Read more

Google's enterprise push continues with plans to link two of its more business-oriented products: Google Search Appliance and Google Apps.

Seems simple--and long overdue--but Google is announcing plans for a new version of the Google Search Appliance that allows business users to find results within Google Apps and Google Sites, should you work for a company that uses Google's office-productivity software and corporate search appliance. The new edition, called "Cloud Connect," also lets users search Twitter and other Web sites from within their organization.

Google Search Appliance is not a product we hear an awful lot … Read more

SAN FRANCISCO--Microsoft is tired of seeing Salesforce.com get all the headlines by dishing out a combination of pithy quotes and branded chocolates to the technology press.

Although Redmond has no plans to one-up Salesforce.com CEO Marc Benioff in the candy distribution business, it is starting to speak out more strongly.

"I think Marc and Salesforce have done a good job of getting out there and telling their vision, their story," Corporate Vice President Michael Park told CNET in an interview this week. "I think we have an opportunity to do better."

Of course, Salesforce.… Read more

Earlier this year, prior to my talk at The Next Web conference in Amsterdam, I wrote a guest article on TNW's Web site titled "The Death of the Web Browser." Intentionally hyperbolic, it looked at how we increasingly get more of our Web content through something other than a Web browser--a smartphone app, desktop apps that embed Web-based content into them, and so on--and we can foresee the day coming fairly soon where the browser will be the minority means of accessing the Web. My Next Web talk extended that idea in more detail, in particular looking … Read more

Mark Hurd shone at Hewlett-Packard because of his reputation as a detail-oriented executive who shunned the spotlight and got results. On Friday, the tech industry learned about a different side of Mark Hurd.

HP's announcement that Hurd had been dismissed following an investigation into allegations of sexual harassment that turned up improper relationships and falsified expense reports stunned Silicon Valley, where Hurd was brought from the hinterlands of Ohio in 2005 to restore luster to one of America's most storied technology companies. The former Baylor University tennis star is widely credited with turning around HP's fortunes, bringing … Read more

Google Ventures is expected to announce its latest investment decision Wednesday, sinking $4.5 million into paid-search middleman Trada.

Trada's third round of venture investment will be led by Google Ventures, with previous investor Foundry Group contributing another $1.25 million, the companies plan to announce Wednesday morning. Trada, based in Boulder, Colo., brings small businesses interested in modest paid-search campaigns together with work-for-hire search marketing experts looking for side gigs, said Niel Robertson, founder and CEO of the 50-employee start-up.

As with many of Google Ventures' other investments, paid search is a topic near and dear to the … Read more