Looking Ahead: Microsoft Office Web
Whether or not you're thinking of making the jump to Google Docs, there's one more thing to consider. Microsoft has announced that they're working on a web-based version of Microsoft Office. Office 14 will include some web-based components, so that documents can be edited online using a web browser. This web-based version of Office, dubbed Office Web, will be delivered as part of Microsoft's Office Live website.
Microsoft has not announced a release date or pricing for Office Web, so there's no way of knowing how it will compare to the Google Docs suite. Of course, by the time Office Web is formally released, Google Docs is likely to be more robust than it currently is; Google is constantly adding new features and functionality to all of its web-based applications.
In any case, the cloud computing space is likely to get more interesting in the months and years to come. The winner of any Google versus Microsoft fight is likely to be the enduser—who'll have a lot more options to choose from.