Microsoft may have dismissed concerns that Google Docs & Spreadsheet are any kind of threat to Microsoft Office System but Adobe CEO Bruce Chizen is enjoying the war between the Googleplex and Redmond.In a recent interview, Bruce was quoted as saying - "Oh, I love Google - Google is a big threat for Microsoft and distracts it from the rest of us [Adobe]. Google is simultaneously our heat shield and an important partner."
Adobe and Microsoft are already at war over the PDF format and Bruce thinks that with Google Office programs, Google is indirectly helping Adobe by keeping Microsoft engaged.
Unfortunately, the CEO's smile may not last long because with Google Office gaining popularity, it could itself prove to be a threat to Adobe products.
For instance, Adobe forced Microsoft to removed the Print PDF feature from Office 2007 but Google Office programs also let you save your documents, emails or spreadsheets to PDF without Acrobat. That's threat number one. Why would a Google Office user buy Acrobat for creating simple PDF files ?
The second Adobe product that could face competition from Google [and not Microsoft] is Adobe Contribute, a WYSIWYG HTML editor and blogging tool. Google Page Creator has lot of matching features (including inline image editing) and anyone can blog easily inside Google Docs.
As the world moves from desktop to the web, I think it's Adobe who should feel more threatened by Googleplex developments. Microsoft is anyway developing an Online Office Suite that will possibly integrate with desktop Office program to take Google Office head on.
In another related news, Adobe may be planning to develop web only version of Photoshop Elements and Adobe Premiere Elements that will be supported by advertisements as in GMail. They have already jumped in the advertising-based-software model with Adobe Digital Editing, a PDF viewer that will have contextual ads.