Simply put, software program doesn’t age nicely. Hardware, in time, all the time turns into out of date, but when it survives lengthy sufficient—assume Olympia typewriters—it transfigures from junk to a classic digital or will get a shot at a stylistic reincarnation (skeuomorphism or going “retro”). But hardly ever does anybody reserve the identical sort of generosity for a bit of crummy outdated software program. Which is to say, when folks hate on software program merchandise, the hatred is just not the extra complicated and sticky sort directed to, say, Philip Roth. People actually need to see no extra of it.

And 17 years after the launch of Google Docs, its adoption is widespread however nowhere common. If your office is full of Macs greater than Lenovos, you may be stunned to be taught that Microsoft Word still dominates in market share. If Microsoft Word is sort of a combo equipment of DeWalt energy instruments, Google Docs is a funds Swiss Army knife that’s serviceable however all the time leaves extra to be desired. What baffles me is that the intervening years since Google Docs’ preliminary launch supplied greater than sufficient time to realize characteristic parity with Microsoft Word, nevertheless it’s as if Google Docs by no means mustered the desire. Instead, it has centered on small-time options (emoji reactions), and up to date product bulletins (“pageless” format, for instance) have strained to shock. 

During these lackluster improvement cycles, the word-processing area has been full of a glut of writing apps. Not all the time profitable however boldly experimental, they’re extra minimalist, maximalist, hipster, considerate, annoying, customizable, opinionated, over/under-engineered than Google Docs. To title names, Bear, Coda, Airtable, Notion, Overleaf, Scrivener, iA Writer, Ulysses, and Obsidian come to thoughts. 

Google Docs, although nicely made, has by no means felt artisanal the way in which iA Writer or Ulysses does. But it could be a mistake to insist an excessive amount of on its lesser points. Using OT efficiently, as soon as and for all, confirmed that the complexity of real-time enhancing could possibly be tamed, an proof proof to which many collaborative software program applications of in the present day owe their existence. OT additionally cast a path for extra elegant collaborative options—like, for individuals who care, conflict-free replicated knowledge varieties (CRDTs), that are utilized in domains akin to music (SoundCloud) and design (Figma). In the genetics of recent software program, it might be uncommon to search out software program applications the place Google Docs’ DNA segments are fully absent.

And as a result of the utilization sample of these different writing apps turned out to be extra pluralistic—i.e., as an alternative of counting on a single general-purpose app, customers make use of completely different apps for fast note-taking (Apple Notes), drafting (iA Writer), scriptwriting (Scrivener), reference administration(Zotero)—Google Docs nonetheless excels in universality and has achieved a near-protocol standing. Google Docs could also be second-rate within the second-rate and third-rate options, nevertheless it’s first-rate within the first-rate ones. For what it is price, this text was edited in Google Docs.