It has taken years, but Google seems to be cutting into Microsoft's stronghold - businesses, reports Quentin Hardy in Wednesday's New York Times.

Google's software for businesses, Google Apps, consists of applications for document writing, collaboration, and text and video communications - all cloud-based, so that none of the software is on an office worker's compute r. Google has been promoting the idea for more than six years, and it seemed that it was going to appeal mostly to small businesses and tech start-ups.

But the notion is catching on with larger enterprises. In the last year Google has scored an impressive string of wins, including at the Swiss drug maker Hoffmann-La Roche, where over 80,000 employees use the package, and at the Interior Department, where 90,000 use it.

One big reason is price. Google charges $50 a year for each person using its product, a price that has not changed since it made its commercial debut, even though Google has added new features.

“Google is getting traction” on Microsoft, Melissa Webster, an analyst with IDC, told The Times. “Its ‘good enough' product has become pretty good. It looks like 2013 is going to be the year for content and collaboration in the cloud.”

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