Well, a lot of people know how big of a Google fan I am, so I thought I would let you guys in on the newest addition to the Google Docs & Spreadsheet applications. Yes, Google will soon be adding a presentations section which will be comparable to MS PowerPoint. That's about all the details I'm privy to. I figured this would be a good time to examine products designed for home productivity and compare/contrast some of the different solutions out there.

I would like to briefly mention the three main types of office software out there. One is Microsoft Office. The second is Open Office. The third is Google Docs & Spreadsheets.

Here's what you need to know. Google provides a good, free alternative to MS Office. While you will lose some functionality, you will gain mobility. Google also allows you to collaborate on documents more easily than Office. So here's the bottom line. Because Google Apps relies on internet access, I would recommend Google Apps for people who are always in range of a broadband connection and don't want to pay for Office software.

MS Office gives you tons of features than are necessarily essential but can be both convenient and time saving. For example, being able to publish blog posts from inside Word. How about being to use Word to automatically insert bibliographies and switch between bibliography formats like MLA, Chicago, etc and automatically update references throughout the paper. The features are cool and timesaving but not essential. If you have the money, Office 07 is certainly worth a try. The competition between Google and OpenOffice has certainly made MS step up its game.

OpenOffice certainly has its strong points as well. OpenOffice offers less functionality that MS Office. However, you don't need internet access to work on documents like with Google Applications. Here's my take on OpenOffice. If you only occasionally use Office type applications and have reliable internet access—stick with Google Apps. If you use Office applications extensively or have spotty internet access and can't fork out the cash for MS Office, OpenOffice is the direction you should take.