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| New Habits Transform Software | |
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| Every day, millions of office workers prepare memos and reports using scissors and paste, and store data on floppy disks, though they have plenty of digital memory in their computers and the cloud. Smartphone-toting executives have their mail dumped into in-boxes, one corporate message atop another. | Every day, millions of office workers prepare memos and reports using scissors and paste, and store data on floppy disks, though they have plenty of digital memory in their computers and the cloud. Smartphone-toting executives have their mail dumped into in-boxes, one corporate message atop another. |
| They are not using these objects, of course, but clicking on the pictures of them in popular word-processing programs like Microsoft Word or Google Docs. The icons linger like vestigial organs of an old-style office, 31 years after I.B.M.’s personal computer brought work into the software age. They symbolize an old style of office software, built for the time when the desktop computer was new and unfamiliar. | |
| But no longer are workers tethered to a desk, or even to an office; we are all toting around laptops, tablets and smartphones to make every place a workplace. And so office software is changing. These days, what is important is collaboration, small screens, fast turnarounds, social media and, most of all, mobility. | But no longer are workers tethered to a desk, or even to an office; we are all toting around laptops, tablets and smartphones to make every place a workplace. And so office software is changing. These days, what is important is collaboration, small screens, fast turnarounds, social media and, most of all, mobility. |
| “The way people use things is fundamentally changing,” said Bret Taylor, chief executive of Quip, a start-up offering document-writing software that focuses more on mobile than desktop work. | “The way people use things is fundamentally changing,” said Bret Taylor, chief executive of Quip, a start-up offering document-writing software that focuses more on mobile than desktop work. |
| Mr. Taylor, 33, is one of the best-regarded young software engineers in Silicon Valley. He helped create Google Maps before serving as Facebook’s chief technical officer. His co-founder, Kevin Gibbs, also 33, helped create Google’s data centers and as a side project developed the software that suggests completions when people start to type questions into Google search. | Mr. Taylor, 33, is one of the best-regarded young software engineers in Silicon Valley. He helped create Google Maps before serving as Facebook’s chief technical officer. His co-founder, Kevin Gibbs, also 33, helped create Google’s data centers and as a side project developed the software that suggests completions when people start to type questions into Google search. |
| Their company is one of several that is developing office software for the mobile world. Some of the new programs still borrow from images of old-fashioned work in their design. But the capabilities they offer are decidedly up-to-date. | |
| Last month Box, an online service for storing documents, pictures and other data, bought Crocodoc, a company that makes it possible to view Microsoft Word documents and other popular file formats across a variety of devices at the right size for whatever screen is being used at the time. Evernote, another online storage outfit, allows people to write, edit and share notes together, instead of e-mailing multiple versions of a Word document to one another. | |
| Sam Schillace, Box’s vice president for engineering, wrote the original program that became Google Docs, which was introduced only six years ago. | Sam Schillace, Box’s vice president for engineering, wrote the original program that became Google Docs, which was introduced only six years ago. |
| He explained that in a mobile world, where everyone is in nearly constant contact, speed and ease of use are more important than lots of font choices. “We were guilty of taking the existing nature of documents,” he said, “but six years ago connectivity was a question. Now everything is connected all the time.” | He explained that in a mobile world, where everyone is in nearly constant contact, speed and ease of use are more important than lots of font choices. “We were guilty of taking the existing nature of documents,” he said, “but six years ago connectivity was a question. Now everything is connected all the time.” |
| Both Microsoft and Google are scrambling to make their products reflect a work environment where PCs exist alongside other devices. There is a mobile version of Microsoft Office, which includes Microsoft Word, but it can only be used to edit certain kinds of documents and collaboration is limited. One reason for this, the company says, is that it does not want to force its user base to relearn too much, too quickly. | Both Microsoft and Google are scrambling to make their products reflect a work environment where PCs exist alongside other devices. There is a mobile version of Microsoft Office, which includes Microsoft Word, but it can only be used to edit certain kinds of documents and collaboration is limited. One reason for this, the company says, is that it does not want to force its user base to relearn too much, too quickly. |
| “We have one billion users of Office,” said Julia White, general manager of Office marketing. “You can’t expect them to change every day.” | “We have one billion users of Office,” said Julia White, general manager of Office marketing. “You can’t expect them to change every day.” |
| Still, social media touches, like “liking” an e-mail to show you’ve read it instead of writing a response, are likely to be seen in the future, she said. | |
| Quip’s product is for now fully available only for Apple’s mobile devices and laptops. It combines instant messaging with document creation, storage and sharing in a primarily touch-screen environment. | Quip’s product is for now fully available only for Apple’s mobile devices and laptops. It combines instant messaging with document creation, storage and sharing in a primarily touch-screen environment. |
| Tap an icon of a manila folder and the material inside appears, which any user can organize as they see fit. Tapping one of those documents brings it up to be written, edited or commented on. | Tap an icon of a manila folder and the material inside appears, which any user can organize as they see fit. Tapping one of those documents brings it up to be written, edited or commented on. |
| Like on Facebook, people’s pictures appear alongside their comments. The pictures also appear on any folder or document a person has open, making it easy to start working with someone else. | Like on Facebook, people’s pictures appear alongside their comments. The pictures also appear on any folder or document a person has open, making it easy to start working with someone else. |
| An important part of mobile design is fewer choices: keyboard commands are often favored over icons to preserve screen real estate for the text. In Quip, pictures and tables are referenced by touching the “@” key on a pop-up screen keyboard, a nod to Twitter’s way of linking people together. | An important part of mobile design is fewer choices: keyboard commands are often favored over icons to preserve screen real estate for the text. In Quip, pictures and tables are referenced by touching the “@” key on a pop-up screen keyboard, a nod to Twitter’s way of linking people together. |
| While Microsoft Word, by far the most popular word-processing software, offers more than 200 fonts, and Google Docs has 600, Quip has two fonts. Lists can be made in just three ways: numbered, with check boxes or as bullet points. | While Microsoft Word, by far the most popular word-processing software, offers more than 200 fonts, and Google Docs has 600, Quip has two fonts. Lists can be made in just three ways: numbered, with check boxes or as bullet points. |
| Headings come in small, medium or large, instead of the broad range of font sizes presented by Word. “It’s a freedom from choice, so you can focus on what you want to do,” Mr. Gibbs said. “A choice we made was to make it look good on any device.” | Headings come in small, medium or large, instead of the broad range of font sizes presented by Word. “It’s a freedom from choice, so you can focus on what you want to do,” Mr. Gibbs said. “A choice we made was to make it look good on any device.” |
| That is a convenient argument, but it also reflects the realities of making things work on small, touch-based screens, and the needs of the virtual office. | That is a convenient argument, but it also reflects the realities of making things work on small, touch-based screens, and the needs of the virtual office. |
| “Writing and editing has always been somewhat collaborative, but things are moving much faster now,” said Mathias Crawford, a researcher in human-computer interactions at Stanford University. “We are moving from persuasion based on rhetoric to persuasion based on tables and videos inserted into narrative text.” | “Writing and editing has always been somewhat collaborative, but things are moving much faster now,” said Mathias Crawford, a researcher in human-computer interactions at Stanford University. “We are moving from persuasion based on rhetoric to persuasion based on tables and videos inserted into narrative text.” |
| Google Docs, now part of Drive, Google’s online storage service, is going through a number of revisions to work better on mobile platforms, said Jonathan Rochelle, the product manager for Google Docs. | Google Docs, now part of Drive, Google’s online storage service, is going through a number of revisions to work better on mobile platforms, said Jonathan Rochelle, the product manager for Google Docs. |
| It has always been possible to collaborate online and bring instant messaging into the process, he said, “but the challenge is trying to do it all.” Once a lot of workers in a corporation use a certain kind of software, he explained, they get used to its features, like fonts and icons, making it hard to remove what is familiar. | It has always been possible to collaborate online and bring instant messaging into the process, he said, “but the challenge is trying to do it all.” Once a lot of workers in a corporation use a certain kind of software, he explained, they get used to its features, like fonts and icons, making it hard to remove what is familiar. |
| The giants of word processing have the talent and money to try to adapt to these expectations. Google does not give figures on its income from Docs, but people familiar with the business say the corporate version of Google Apps, which features Docs, brings in more than $1 billion annually. Microsoft’s business software division had revenue of $24.7 billion in its 2013 fiscal year. Quip gives away a personal version of its software for free and sells a corporate version, which allows more managerial control, for $12 a person each month. | The giants of word processing have the talent and money to try to adapt to these expectations. Google does not give figures on its income from Docs, but people familiar with the business say the corporate version of Google Apps, which features Docs, brings in more than $1 billion annually. Microsoft’s business software division had revenue of $24.7 billion in its 2013 fiscal year. Quip gives away a personal version of its software for free and sells a corporate version, which allows more managerial control, for $12 a person each month. |
| More important, Mr. Crawford of Stanford said, the anachronistic icons of Word and Docs and even Quip have themselves become a comforting standard to many. “Until business structures change, nothing is going to happen” to Microsoft Word, he said. “There is always recourse to showing physical things.” | More important, Mr. Crawford of Stanford said, the anachronistic icons of Word and Docs and even Quip have themselves become a comforting standard to many. “Until business structures change, nothing is going to happen” to Microsoft Word, he said. “There is always recourse to showing physical things.” |
| Mr. Taylor of Quip says his software reflects changes that have already happened in the world. “Seeing who is working on what, chatting with them or deciding to collaborate, that is what we have here,” he said, nodding to Quip’s open-plan office. “Workplaces are changing, so expectations are changing.” | Mr. Taylor of Quip says his software reflects changes that have already happened in the world. “Seeing who is working on what, chatting with them or deciding to collaborate, that is what we have here,” he said, nodding to Quip’s open-plan office. “Workplaces are changing, so expectations are changing.” |
This article has been revised to reflect the following correction: | This article has been revised to reflect the following correction: |
| Correction: July 31, 2013 | Correction: July 31, 2013 |
An earlier version of this article misspelled the given name of a Stanford University researcher. He is Mathias Crawford, not Matthias. | An earlier version of this article misspelled the given name of a Stanford University researcher. He is Mathias Crawford, not Matthias. |