Google Docs Target Microsoft Office with HTML5 Focus

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Google said it has rewritten the code for Google Docs, using a new JavaScript layout engine and leaning heavily on HTML5 to improve and speed up the document, drawing and spreadsheet editors in Docs.

The company, which unveiled the upgrades at the company’s Atmosphere cloud computing event at its Mountain View, Calif., headquarters April 12, is trying to make Docs more suitable for today’s office workers, many of whom grew up working with Microsoft Office or IBM Lotus applications, which reside on users’ computers.

Google aims to provide team collaboration where knowledge workers can effortlessly exchange word processing, spreadsheet and presentation documents whether they were created in the cloud in Google Docs, or Office or Lotus Notes.