All the hating about whether mac, windows, linux, open office, google, are pointless, what matters is what works for someone. If someone wants to use Microsoft Office, don't hate on them because you use open office and it suits your needs better! I use acrobat.com at school, office 07 and 08 at home, google docs a little at times… Firefox is great! But some need IE for ActiveX. Don't hate on them! Linux is great! But some need the apps made for windows or mac exclusively! Macs are great! Well some people want to play games with the most high-end computers out there!

So…. Back on topic, people use what they need. Sure, encourage them to try new things, but don't say stuff like "Just Use Open Office It is WAY better!!!"

The abuse MS gets just because of it's name astounds me. Oracle/Sun/Open Office is a fine product, as are some of the others but face it – NOTHING is as good as Excel. Sorry just the way it is.

As a senior IT manager however I see potential here *IF* done right. The sharing of files is nice if security is there. I wonder how they will handle database fed docs though, or mail merge, or other integration issues.

I'd love to see some controls set by a business that sets permissions to a document storage area: some things scream for user level permissions, or basic sharepoing portal functionality like document review and released revisions. Or better yet Domain controls that allow a recently departing employee to automatically be locked out of the online stuff as well as corporate assets.

The use of version tracking and backup with this service are potentially appealing. My backups are too much for tape these days, so this has other uses for me too (IF DONE RIGHT..)

I do however wish that ANY browser will have access. My Linux desktop would like to be more integrated with this service without the need for emulators or virtual machines etc.

MS is an evil empire.. So live with it.
Google is too. Adobe, now theres a real borg organization. These businesses exist to make money. If your business needs a product from one of them, either pay for the product or find an alternative, or do without. Unless you work for free, don't expect these companies to do so. If they overcharge, SOMEONE will offer a more reasonable alternative.

Most professionals don't like the cost, but at the end of the day we just want the stuff to work, so WE can make money as a business ourselves.

You should try SSuite Office for a free office suite. They have a whole range of office suites that are free for download.

Their software also don't need to run on Java or .NET, so it makes the software very small and efficient.

http://www.ssuitesoft.com/index.htm

Looks like…. I got totally cheated… in more ways than one.

Makes me wonder if there might be a conspiracy, eh?

Google = marketing company – they make money off marketing and yes, your content are subject to adword/adsense searches for keyword / targeted ads.
They do not allow you the ability to encrypt your Google Doc documents outside of Google Doc Premium… (guess what? It's a paid service ) wonder why? Because they do not want to allow you to encrypt information that can be adword/adsense scanned.

The cost: your privacy

Microsoft = software company – they make money off you buying their software. Because Google has began to trickle into its territory is is offering things like Office Live – yes it's ad driven just like Google Docs is.

Cost = either you pay for the application with $$$ or you pay for it with your privacy – it's a choice but still it's not free.

Open Office = an organization copying everything they can to make their application look like Microsoft Office to give customers the ability to use the "good enough tool."
Cost = support – when necessary is costly, integration into business system, and over headaches of a ME TOO package that doesn't offer any real compelling changes in worker productivity or advancement.

At the end of the day nothing is free… I shame Google big time for making the world think that what it offers is free. Nothing they do is free. If anything, Google has made options for breaking down the walls of privacy perfectly legit and they do it with the "Do no Evil" monger. It's a hoax – Google is interested in you losing your privacy and that's about it. See other free services as Facebook… your information is being sold to marketers.

Nothing is free. Google stuff isn't free. It's all ad-based and Google just keeps right on collecting all your data. But go ahead and be a sheep and keep right on demanding everything be free.