Cloud based web services and computing is picking up its pace, with more and more companies now working feverishly to perfect this technology, that many have predicted to be the next big thing in the field of Information & Technology. Keeping in mind the importance and the future impact of cloiud computing, Google Inc. today announced the acquisition of DocVerse, a start up entity that is known for its Microsoft Office plug ins for online collaboration. As per reports, the search behemoth claimed the company for a sum of $25 million, from it owners, Shan Sinha and Alex DeNeui, who also happen to be the ex-employees of Microsoft Corporation.

Google has long been trying its best to ensure the demise of Microsoft Office era and replace it with Google Apps, where in the users create, share and save their documents online. The acquisition of DocVerse is expected to help Google greatly, as the start-up’s experience with the MS Office plug-in Google could definitely create more versatile and Google Apps environment for the enterprise world, which then could help the company in edging out the MS Office enterprise edition competition.

According to Jonathan Rochelle (Group product manager, Google Apps),

“The future of productivity applications is in the cloud. But we recognize that many people are still accustomed to desktop software. 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.”

However, the race for cloud computing isn’t going to slow down any time soon, as Microsoft is gearing up for the launch of its upcoming Office 2010, the same familiar MS Office Suite
, but for this edition, Microsoft has planned to keep it web based and thus could prove to be a serious competitor to Google.

Via PC World