The two 50-minute online test sessions assessed "the old spreadsheet, word-processing and presentation applications which I was teaching 15 years ago, plus a bit of e-mail".

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He has launched a web site and a 300-word presentation backing his view, but it seems like after digesting it the market is not very impressed.

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Still, Google's package of e-mail, word processing, calendar, spreadsheet and presentation software does have some advantages.

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And Zoho is already pushing into more sophisticated applications, offering customer-management and project-planning software alongside basics such as word processing, spreadsheet and presentation software.

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