Have you heard the recent news concerning Microsoft? The latest court order says that they are not allowed to sell Word, the most popular software in their Office suite, in the United States. Unfortunately Microsoft will appeal it, and it will probably be overturned. I say unfortunately because there are many other options out there that are better than Word (and usually free). Some of the options include OpenOffice, IBM's Lotus Symphony, Google Docs, and more. Each one has it's pros and cons, but I think Google Docs is the most interesting for a number of reasons.

Online App

Google Docs is online. You can use their version of Word, Excel, and PowerPoint through your web browser. This is way better than using software on your computer because wherever you go, you can access your documents (even if you don't have your personal computer). All you need is another computer with internet, and all of your documents are at your fingertips. This also means that documents are cross-platform, meaning you can get them on Windows, Apple and Linux.

Sharing & Collaborating

Google Docs allows you to share your documents with anyone that has a Google account (and who doesn't nowadays). You can set permissions for each person you invite so that sharing could involve just letting them view the document, to actually being able to edit the document along with you. This is incredibly helpful for working in groups, and you can even edit the documents simultaneously! Also, Google Docs has a built in revision system (think Wikipedia) so that you can see who made what changes, and revert back to a previous state.

Import / Export Formats

Switching to Google Docs is easy because it has the ability to open Word, OpenOffice, StarOffice, txt and html files. If you're using one of those programs for word processing now, you can put your documents online. Even better, you can send an email to a special Google Docs address and it will convert it into a document for you from the text in the email OR attached document. On the flip side, Google Docs also lets you download your documents in a number of formats including txt, doc, pdf, and more. Exporting as pdf is huge, since you don't even need a separate program (like Primo PDF or Adobe Acrobat) to do that like you'd normally need for Word.

Offline Access

One of the biggest perks with Google Docs is that it's online, but that's also been a big problem. Some people aren't online all of the time (like my parents). Fortunately, Google has recently integrated a new plugin for utilizing their services (like Gmail, Docs and Calendar) offline. This new plugin is called Google Gears, and only requires a quick download before getting started. Just look for the "offline" link in the upper right corner of the website. Once it's set up, they put shortcuts on your desktop and you can visit their websites and do normal activities even if you're not connected to the internet!

Features

Docs doesn't have all of the features that their counterparts might. While this is technically seen as a problem, it's actually a good thing! One of Microsoft's biggest problems is what is referred to as “feature creep”. Basically, they keep adding stuff with every new version and the software keeps getting more and more bloated with features that most people don't use. That's why Word or Excel take awhile to load, and why their interface has to be so complicated. That said, most features that everyone uses is in Google Docs.

Online Backup

Another concern is “what if my documents are lost?” While this a legitimate concern, the chances of Google losing your documents are minuscule. You can practically say that it's not possible. However, I can say without any doubt that you're much more likely to lose a document on your computer or flash drive than Google Docs (which has no viruses, spyware, corruption, etc).

Problems

Some people are a little scared of Google and the empire they're creating online. If that's you, Google Docs is probably terrifying. I'm not too concerned. To be honest, I'm having trouble thinking of many more problems than that. It's not perfect, but it's pretty darn close.