Microsoft has launched a slew of new ads taking aim at Google Docs, claiming the service is difficult to use and cannot properly display documents created in Microsoft Office.
The first of the two videos, which are available to view through Google’s YouTube service, takes the form of a basketball game. The ad lampoons the character of Google Docs, with the actor playing the service scoring own-goals and at one point transforming the basketball into an American football.
One of his team-mates goes on to say “Google Docs,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], you are making everybody out here less productive and even your own team has to work harder.”
Google Docs replies “to be honest, I’m not Microsoft Office over there”,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], who is played by a skilled basketball player.
The second advert has Google Docs in the character of a croupier, who promises a trinket to anyone who can open an Office document in Google Docs without any loss of formatting. The player then goes on to lose the bet.
In two accompanying blog posts, Microsoft describes Google Docs as “deficient”,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], saying Google publicly admits this problem and claims those using the service are “taking a gamble”.
In addition to taking aim at Google Docs’ alleged deficiencies when it comes to respecting formatting in its new ad campaign, Microsoft has also accused Google of privacy violations once again.
The company has lambasted the American city of Boston for adopting Google Docs.
In a statement to the Boston Globe,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], a spokesperson said: “We believe the citizens of Boston deserves cloud productivity tools that protect their security and privacy. Google’s investments in these areas are inadequate,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], and they lack the proper protections most organizations require.”
This is not the first time Microsoft has hit out at Google for allegedly ‘snooping’ on users’ data,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych].
As part of its long-running Scroogled! campaign, the organisation slammed Google Apps for allegedly using information gleaned from data stored in the cloud service to serve up sidebar advertising.
In February, Microsoft hit out again, accusing Google of reading users’ emails in its Gmail cloud-based email service.

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