Google buys start-up adept at Microsoft Office files

Google on Friday said it has bought start-up DocVerse in a move that escalates the Internet giant's battle with Microsoft in the arena of applications being offered online as services.

DocVerse is "a small, nimble team of talented developers who share our vision, and they've enabled true collaboration right within Microsoft Office," Google Apps team product manager Jonathan Rochelle said in a blog post.

Google will use DocVerse technology to improve Google Docs, word processing software that is part of a suite of programs the California firm hosts online as free services "in the cloud."

The online applications are competition for packaged programs such as Word, PowerPoint, and Excel sold by Microsoft.

"The future of productivity applications is in the cloud," Rochelle said.

"So as we continue to improve Google Docs and Google Sites as rich collaboration tools, we're also making it easier for people to transition to the cloud, and interoperate with desktop applications like Microsoft Office."

Google did not disclose financial terms of the DocVerse purchase, but various reports put the price at 25 million dollars.

"We fundamentally believe that Google is one of the best positioned companies to truly disrupt the world of productivity software," DocVerse founders Shan Sinha and Alex DeNeui said in a blog post.

The former Microsoft workers founded DocVerse in 2007.

"Our first step will be to combine DocVerse with Google Apps to create a bridge between Microsoft Office and Google Apps," Sinha and DeNeui said.

The DocVerse acquisition comes on the heels of Google's announcement on Monday that had bought Picnik.com, a website that allows users to edit and store photos online.

Google chief executive Eric Schmidt said in a conference call with analysts in January that the Mountain View, California, company planned to acquire about one company a month this year.

(c) 2010 AFP