Google Begins Paying Businesses To Cheat On Microsoft Office With ‘Apps for Work’

In the cloud game, there is so much competition, it's hard to keep them all straight sometimes. But of them all, two giants that are fun to watch duke it out are Google and Microsoft - especially when it comes to online documents.

While Google was ahead of the curve with regards to hosting office tools online, Microsoft has arguably had an easier time selling its service based on the simple fact that it's been creating office tools for nearly thirty years (the first version was revealed at COMDEX in 1988!). Both companies have their own pluses, though, making it hard for some businesses to choose between them. Google clearly has mastered the art of infrastructure, while Microsoft offers tools that people are familiar with.

Well, we're at a point now where Google is so confident in its place in this battle, that it's decided to offer one heck of a deal to any company that's thinking about transitioning over to Google Docs (and likewise, Google Apps). If an ongoing enterprise agreement (EA) is what's preventing a business from moving on over, Google's decided to absorb its own fees until it expires.

Writes the company on its official blog: "Once your current EA is up, we offer a simple contract with no traps or gotchas. For a lot of businesses, it’s cheaper, too. Our estimates suggest that businesses with basic EAs and no dependencies can potentially unlock savings of up to 70% by switching to Google Apps for Work."

Google is confident that once you try its service, you won't want to move away. Also, it's important to note that as of the current time, this offer is only available to businesses in the US and Canada, although the company is working to break outside those borders soon.