Google (News - Alert) and Microsoft continue to battle, well, over everything – including both companies’ attempts at getting the biggest piece of market share on business applications, a trophy currently held by Microsoft (News - Alert).

But Google is certainly tantalizing enough for businesses from a cost perspective with its cloud computing services.

A recent piece by The New York Times pointed out that because ”Google Apps performs many of the same functions as Office, but through a Web browser instead of local software, it is cheaper to own and operate than Microsoft’s desktop software,” noting that the question remains how much of a dent Google is making in Microsoft’s business.

Microsoft has hardly noticed Google, the NYT said. Meanwhile, Google execs claim that more and more large companies are signing on to its cloud services. On its home page, Google Cloud Services touts its affiliations with such organizations as Best Buy (News - Alert) and Ford.

“Our experience with Google App Engine really changed how we do things. We can use far fewer developers, and we don’t have to spend any time doing system administration or setting up servers, which allows us to focus on the development and testing new ideas,” said Gary Koelling, director of emerging platforms at Best Buy.

However, David M. Smith, an analyst with Gartner (News - Alert), estimates Google gets about $150 million a year from Apps – not enough to cover costs, he says, though Google says it makes a profit, according to the article. Instead, Google “uses the business in 'asymmetric warfare' with Microsoft,” the NYT reports. “'Google spends $1 to make Microsoft spend $10 defending itself, because Microsoft went after Google on search,’ Mr. Smith said.”

David Girouard, who runs Google’s Apps business, told the Times that 5,000 businesses a day signed up with Google Apps.

The NYT also reported – not surprisingly – that Microsoft is dismissive of the competition.

“We sell a copy of Office 2010 every second — over 100 million so far,” Tom Rizzo, a senior director in the Office division, told the Times. “Nine out of 10 customers who use Google keep Office on their desktop.”

In other recent Google Apps news, Esnatech, a leader in unified communications and expert on deploying Google Apps to drive business efficiency, signed a partnership with FVC, a major value added distributor (VAD). The two will work together to deliver unified communications to enterprises throughout the Middle East and Northern Africa, TMCnet reported.

To assist enterprises looking to deploy communications capabilities to help boost worker productivity, these companies will provide cloud strategies in both public and private environments. Using unified communications, companies can have a single inbox to access all messages and advance their fixed-to-mobile convergence.