Google Sites = SharePoint for the Masses

If you have a Google Apps account, you may have noticed the sudden appearance of "Google Sites" within your applications homepage. It looks very much like Google's first stab at a SharePoint style collaboration workspace - and it isn't too bad at all.

Those with a long memory will remember the Google acquisition of "JotSpot" a few years ago, and the rumours that they were about to release their own Wiki tools - I have a feeling some of the elements of "Google Sites" are the end result - only Google have done a lot more than many might have thought.

Here's the official tour...

Google Sites provides many of the same features as a generic Windows SharePoint Services site - except of course you have no hosting fees, no server(s) to administer and no administration learning curve. Of course you can't modify what you get "out of the box", but I sometimes wonder just how many companies use SharePoint beyond the basic document libraries and discussion workspaces anyway.

I can't help wondering - if Google add workflow to this in the next version, it's going to be a realistic alternative to SharePoint...