Google Spreadsheet
Google has started Beta testing of their so-called Google Spreadsheets. So what are they up to? Are they trying to attack Microsoft? Do they want to kill Excel?

After some try-outs on Google Spreadsheets (see the invitation page to get in) I am quite enthusiastic about Google Spreadsheets. For years I have never used anything more than 1% of the capabilities and possibilities of Excel. Rows and columns are more than enough for me. No tough macro user here. Looking at Google Spreadsheets in that aspect. It is 100% usable and sufficient to me. A big big benefit in all... collaboration of documents. I can share it with the entire world without having to install expensive software.

Writely
So Google has a plan here. As I was trying out their stuff. I stepped on a message about Google buying out Writely.com. So I went out to check what that was all about. And hence my being surprised, Writely.com supplies us an online Word clone! Well Word clone. I think the same aspect goes here. It is not a clone. It is a convenient basic text editor.

I don't know about all you folks outthere, but I tend to use Word to write a letter with. Not as some framework to fake a photo-editor with or to put Excel rows and columns in a Word document because that looks so tidy ( I use Excel here...).

Writely.com notifies on their website that it has been taken over by Google, so it won't be long before it will get the Google garments.

In all the combination of these 2 basic office applications are nothing new on the horizon, but the price is and the possibilities on collaboration between users and editors of documents is very 'un-M$' and sheds a new light on applications and their common use.