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. Microsoft just announced that it has touched a million users with MS Online Workspace, its online document management solution. This doesn’t really come as a surprise, considering the burgeoning of the online document management space, with numerous players of the new “purely online” genre like Google Docs and Zimbra; or those which work with conventional desktop file-types like HyperOffice. Why has the product quickly moved on to such a large number? Is it because it is an outstanding product? I would strongly opine that it is not the case. The main reason the count of users has grown to such a large number is because of two facts coming together:- - Online document management is in hot demand because it offers major benefits - Most companies work with Microsoft Office document formats, and Online Workspace can be accessed directly from with MS Word, MS Excel et al. The fact that Online Workspace ties directly into MS Office files tremendously pre inclines users towards their product, and virtually blinds them to other, potentially better products out there. I had earlier written on the subject, in an article titled “unfair competition redux”, arguing that this could possibly be seen as Microsoft unfairly using its clout in the “Office Suite” market to push out competition in the online document management domain. .
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