Google CEO says company isn’t after Powerpoint

Call it Chutzpah 2.0: Google CEO Eric Schmidt gets up in front of a capacity crowd at the Web 2.0 Expo in San Francisco and claims that a new presentation software package that his company is unveiling isn’t intended to compete against Microsoft’s Powerpoint, the dominant business presentation software on the market.

That takes nerve, alright, but that didn’t prevent Schmidt from saying it all the same. As reported by InfoWorld and others, Schmidt made little of the comparisons between his company’s growing suite, Google Apps, and Microsoft Office.

“I don’t think we compete with them. We’re not as fully functional as MS Office — we’re more in line with how people use the web than how they use the desktop.”

To his credit, tech guru and author John Battelle, who was interviewing Schmidt, was having none of it: “Come on!” Battelle exclaimed “This totally competes with Microsoft Office,” forcing Schmidt to concede that there were similarities, despite the fact that Google Apps “doesn’t have all of Office’s functionality,” (translation: no BLOAT) and “is more focused on Web collaboration (a.k.a “the future”) than Office.”

Why so coy? Two words: plausible deniability. Frankly, it does nothing for Google to come out swinging at MS Office and saying that Google Apps is a replacement for Office. First off, it may just get Microsoft to shake off its doldrums and wake up to the reality of how vulnerable their Office monopoly (and thus, their bottom line is) to a fast shift in the competitive landscape towards Web-based applications and SaaS. With Microsoft’s cash reserves and competitive spirit, it’s still to Google’s interest to show its belly and pretend that there’s no real competition, even when everyone knows there is.

In addition, playing into the media’s desire to cover the “horse race” aspect of Office vs. Google Apps comparison ultimately favors Microsoft and hurts Google. How so? By allowing Microsoft to play the “feature comparison” game and emphasize the greater capabilities of the Office applications.

What Google really wants to do is change the conversation entirely, away from Windows and Office and towards things Google is happy talking about: the Web, SaaS, collaboration, presence. Continuing to talk about Windows and Office and how the compare makes it hard to do that — you’re still arguing with terms that Microsoft invented and owns. So for now, Google is happy to trade on its stellar reputation to pick low hanging fruit from the Office tree (mostly price-conscious SMBs, EDUs and non profits at this point) and to pretend as much as it can that Office doesn’t exist, at least until Office doesn’t exist anymore.