A huge question that has been floating around since Google has become more and more popular is: what software is better Google or Microsoft?

At first, Google was first mostly known as a search engine, competing with others such as Bing and Yahoo. Microsoft, however,  has been around much longer and was known for its applications such as Microsoft Word, Excel and more. Then, Google came out with Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, etc. These apps make your life easier but how hard are they to use?

To help with the use of these applications, a Microsoft Word class was offered at Triton up until a couple of years ago.  Word and Excel were tricky to use for beginners so these classes helped those unclear, so that their school work was easier and they could deliver a better product.

This year, a new class is being offered at Triton: Google Apps. This class is being offered to help students expand beyond the basics that these apps have to offer. In a conversation with Brendan Stokes, we discussed what would be involved in the new class, that he would potentially teach.

“This new class will focus on three Google apps, Docs, Sheets, and Slides. In conversations with teachers and students, we realized that there was a need for students to utilize these apps beyond the basics of a simple document. For instance, in Docs we will teach students how to improve the look of a document by utilizing many of the formatting features to make a more professional looking document. In sheets, we will teach students how to use sheets as a simple database tool for entering in data, and then we will teach students how to make graphs. As a result, students will be able to develop graphs from Sheets in support of numerous classes such as Science and Math.”, said Stokes. He also expanded upon his thoughts of Microsoft versus Google.

“Microsoft has a very strong presence in the business world. I don’t see that changing anytime soon. In an academic setting, many schools are switching to Google Apps to save money and still provide a great product”, said Stokes.

Junior Onica Mooney, talks about why she wants to take the new Google Apps class.

“In mostly all of my classes, we have something due online in some type of way. Everything is based off Google, and making good slides and documents ends up being parts of our grade. I just wanna do better at getting good grades for my online work”, said Mooney.

She isn’t the only student who is excited about this new class. Although, it will only be a one semester class, a lot of students are looking forward to those two quarters of learning the tricks of Google.

Another junior, Kelly Kozlowski, took the Microsoft Word class when it was offered.

“The class really taught me a lot because Microsoft is wicked confusing. I  personally like Google better because Word and Excel were very complicated but the class helped me a lot.”, said Kozlowski.

Lynn Wideberg, a junior, is also taking the Google Apps class next year.

“I took this class because I want to go into Business when I go to college. A lot of the job is working online and making spreadsheets. Google is becoming more and more popular so working on getting better at using these apps will be very useful”, said Wideberg.