Google Buys Zenter, Maker Of Software For Online Presentations

Google’s circle of office apps is complete. Kinda. Well, not really. The Mountain View-based megalith has only announced its purchase of “the assets of Zenter, a company that provides software for creating online slide presentations.”

Prior to the purchase, Zenter was a Y Combinator baby.

What Google intends to do with the technologies acquired is a bit odd, I must say. According to the official Google Blog, the company is only “working to add presentation-sharing capabilities to Google Docs & Spreadsheets.” The keyword being “add”. Hmm.

Surely a good amount at Google are hard at work developing Google Docs & Spreadsheets at the moment. The company clearly wants to compete with the largest office software supplier on the globe, and so it needs to do all it can to put out a better and more refined product more quickly than the market holder. But would it be right for the company to add yet another product into a mix already comprised of two applications with very unique purposes?

Yes, it would indeed be right to do just that. If you’re dealing with localized applications, like the five or so aspects of MS Office, you’re familiar with separation. MS Office isn’t one application. It’s a collection of several. But today, while each desktop-based application is its own, some work with one another, regardless of their mostly standalone nature. Excel sheets can be imported into Word. Word documents can be implanted into PowerPoint presentations. Etcetera, etcetera.

In the Internet browser as we know it today, it’s almost impossible to maintain separation while avoiding disunity and disarray. It’s necessary to keep things together. Developers of Web apps need to keep as close an eye on efficiency as power – and more often than not, the two end up one and the same. Thus, we have items like Google Docs & Spreadsheets. For Google to consolidate a triumvirate of productivity apps – word processor, spreadsheet application, and presentation creator – is simply for Google to think smart and logical about how it can best provide for its users in the environment available.

Now the only thing left to ponder is the name of the three-in-one suite. “Google DSP”, perhaps? Nah. How about “Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides?” Maybe in different order?

I presume the official nomenclature will be very “Google”. By that I mean simple, a tad geeky, easy to remember, and neutral. Most won’t love it, but neither will many hate it. Something tells me the same will be said of the trio of apps themselves.