Office & productivity software forum: Would you consider ditching Microsoft Word for Google Docs?

Better than either choice you have listed..M Office is stupid expensive and Google Docs means having to rely on them to maintain your work and if you net link goes down your hooped!

Libre Office is very good and will do all we want.

I know what to dis trust about micro higway robbers but Google has less than glowing track record in the trust department.. Once anyone misuses my trust they get my disadain for life. I worked 39 plus years as an R.N. if you can't trust your co-workers you have breaks in the healthcare. When anyone every broke that trust they were banished. I use the same policies in the rest of my life.

I am unlikely to do that since I use both Word and Excel frequently and like their flexibility. The cost for Student and Teachers edition in usually less than $100, and over the 4 or 5 years that I have it on a given machine, it will easily repay it's cost by it's flexibility. If I was strapped for cash, I might consider doing something like that, but for me, the cost is way less than $1 a day. Probably a quarter or less. I have been using MS Office for well over 10 years, and enjoy the changes that they incorporate in their new versions. I have a lot of free software on my Windows computers, but always willing to pay for MS Office. I must have thousands of files that have been created with them, and I am a home user. MS Office has the power and flexibility that I want, and I am not a Microsoft Fan-boy!!!! There are a few free programs that they have created for Windows 7 that I have never used and probably never will.

MS Works is even more stripped down than Google Docs. You can't open Works docs in Word and visa versa.

I would not for the simple reason that Google has invades my computer with sneaky tool bars, add ons, and extensions.

I think the above nailed it where Google Docs can't be used by most of us for the reason we become the product.

LibreOffice is fine for most of us but I use Office for the simple reason the office supplies it. It's a retail version so it never expires and works very well. Price isn't so bad after we think about how long we've used it and the lack of problems.
Bob

I would NEVER even consider anything Google even if it were possible that it had some advantages over whatever was the current "king". I will ABSOLUTELY not promote Google's personal information harvesting and distribution practices no matter what the product. It is so silly to see these people that preach high security measures yet turn their entire life over to Google. Stupid, Stupid, Stupid!!!!

"Google buys YouTube for $1.65 billion" Notice the date that article was written.

First of all, kudos to Lee Koo for running such an informative forum. I've been a subscriber for quite some time now. This is the first time I've felt moved to chime in on a discussion.

I have been using Google Docs since June 2006, and have been very satisfied. Personally, I have had no problems with Google. I was sick and tired of Microsoft's stranglehold on productivity software. MS's prices are premium and their planned obsolescence forces us to buy new versions. "Planned obsolescence or built-in obsolescence in industrial design is a policy of planning or designing a product with a limited useful life, so it will become obsolete, that is, unfashionable or no longer functional after a certain period of time." Microsoft has sucked BILLION$ out of consumers by using planned obsolescence.

Documents created on newer versions of Office often cannot be opened for reading or editing on older versions. MS Works is no alternative -- Word docs are not compatible with Works for example. Same with with Excel, Powerpoint, etc. You get the picture.

I mainly use Google Docs to create Documents and Spreadsheets, but you can also create Presentations (a la Powerpoint), Forms, Drawings, and Tables. Any of these can be downloaded to your hard drive, as well as being shared with others in the cloud (with password protected privacy control). Other can be limited to reading only or be allowed to edit documents. All user's edits are tracked, and you can see who changed what and when the changes were made. Google Docs can also be converted to the PDF format (for free).

Google has continually improved the functionality and features over the past six years that I have been using these products. Best of all, this is FREE productivity software. Why pay for something that you can get for free? Microsoft spends a huge amount of money on advertising and marketing -- that's what you're paying for when you buy their products. I don't see a future in this model. I've been able to function quite well in business and at home without paying Microsoft's inflated prices for almost six years now.

For those who don't "trust" Google, or cloud computing in general, there are still FREE alternatives to Microsoft Office products. openoffice.org offers full-featured, open-source productivity software that is available to download and use for free. It is mostly compatible with MS products. MS has tried to make it incompatible in the past in order to continue their near-monopoly on the productivity software market.

Now I only wish a practical alternative to MS Windows existed. MS has had a monopoly on operating systems since the early days of the PC.

No, I don't work for Google. I am a person who isn't into throwing away my hard earned dollars. I do not fear Google docs or openoffice.org. People are resistant to change and Microsoft is well aware of that. If you're happy throwing your $ away, feel free to continue to do so.

For me, and many others, Google Docs and/or openoffice.org have proven to be a viable alternative to Microsoft's productivity software.

Never have trouble reading docs people send created by new versions. I send them docs I create and never have had a negative response.

No need for Microsoft at all. Alternative OS's are Linux and Mac and there are probably others about. Unfortunately a move to Mac also locks you into their stuff to a large extent. But there's also lots of stuff about that replaces all of the MS software and most of it's free as is Linux.

I have been using free open Office for ages and I get Powerpoint, Word, Excel, Publisher clones all OK for nix!

Ignorance truly must be bliss - try before condemning!

I agree with mpfalersweany to a large extent. I have MS Office 2012 on board and have ditched Open Office in favour of LibreOffice which is built by the original Open Office builders. I also use Google Docs. Between them all I have a very workable set of products.
MS Office for consistency with the outside world, although since the advent of the dreaded ribbon there is some problems for people who have earlier versions. There is no real substitute for Excel.
Libre Office for the odd job like modifying PDF documents and some drawing stuff.
Google docs for collaboration and providing a point where documents can be shared. Google docs come no where near the quality and ease of use that the other products do. I also don't trust their security with sensitive documents.
If I was to start all over again I probably would not go the the expense of MS Office but run with LibreOffice and Google docs as the support.