Google to Launch New Office Tools in Challenge to Microsoft.

Google will launch an assault on one of Microsoft’s biggest earners today when it unveils its first suite of paid-for office tools.

For $50 (£26) a year per user, Google Apps Premier Edition will offer corporate customers a bundle of web-based applications including e-mail, a word processor and a spreadsheet. It will compete with Microsoft’s Office, which includes the software stalwarts Word and Excel.

A Microsoft spokesman played down the threat, saying that online services such as Google’s were “not alone in altering today's technology industry”. He added: “Productivity applications [such as Office] represent a very competitive space in which more than 450 million users around the world have consistently chosen Microsoft.”

Microsoft’s Business Division, which includes Office, accounted for $3.5 billion of the group’s revenues of $12.5 billion in the latest reported quarter, making it the largest source of sales. .. More http://business.timesonline.co.uk/to...cle1421520.ece

+ peace +

the world is coming with competition.
against microsoft, Windows or Office, there have many software, but anyone can't take place of microsoft's software.

Well there is always room for innovation. AFAIK the advantage with google is you can edit your files from anywhere without the need to carry around a flash disk or a laptop.
The problem with Microsoft though is the increased need for PC specs which most people don't have and most companies won't be willing to shell out more money for newer pc's every few years.
What you need for an online application like docs.google.com? well Firefox and a normal PC