(Image source: Microsoft)

BY EVAN THOMAS

ANCHOR NATHAN BYRE

Microsoft took another poke at Google on Tuesday, with a new ad portraying Google as a shifty salesman pushing half-baked office software on unsuspecting businesses.

Microsoft’s message? Google Docs can’t stand up to Microsoft Office, and shouldn’t try.

“My employees live on Excel and Powerpoint. Does it work like those?
“Potentially.”
“Does it have active spell check?”
“Sometimes.”
“Pivot Charts?”
“Not sure what that is.”
“What if my employees need to make revisions while they’re on the road?”
“Don’t worry about it! You ask so many questions.”
“Can they do that?”

In your face? Maybe. But Sean Ludwig at VentureBeat says — Microsoft’s angle does make sense.

“Personally, I didn’t find the ad that funny, but it does make a lot of fair points. While Google Apps is cheaper that Office 365, it still has quite a few limitations.”

The Next Web says Microsoft is trying to take back some old territory. Microsoft Office was in the office first, and Google should stick to doing what it does best.

“The point that Microsoft is trying to make is that it is the king of productivity software because it focuses on making it for businesses and not consumers. Basically, it’s telling Google to stick to search and keep its nose out of enterprise software.”

The Verge believes coverage of Google’s recent privacy issues might give Microsoft some traction. But whether it’s enough traction remains to be seen.

“Microsoft clearly sees the new Google privacy policy as a major opportunity to grab some mindshare back from the company, but it’s hard to say if continuously attacking a brand that consumers generally find quite trustworthy with somewhat foolish videos is a strategy for success.”

Gizmodo takes it one step further, calling Microsoft’s approach a little zany.

“It’s an old argument, and not without merit. But the most important message from the spot isn’t any spreadsheet feature set. It’s that Microsoft’s going to the mattresses, and they don’t care who knows it.”

Google has yet to respond to the ad. The YouTube community has weighed in, though. At time of writing the video has two ‘dislikes’ for every one ‘like.’