Google Docs makes online work portable

You may be using traditional spreadsheet, word-processing and presentation applications at home, work and school, but the future is already here for these everyday tasks - and that future is online.

Google already offers a powerful - and free - office suite of applications that live, along with your data, on the company's vast network of servers.

You don't have to download anything to use Google Docs. Just open your Web browser and go to http://docs.google.com. Supported browsers include Firefox and Internet Explorer.

If you already have a Google account that you use for Gmail, Blogger or any other Google services, use that as your sign-in. Otherwise, create a Google account by clicking on the "Get Started" button.

Once you are signed in, you can create and edit text documents, spreadsheets and presentations much as you do in Microsoft Office.

The service is free, although Google does offer a paid plan with additional storage and support for businesses. While many companies want to keep their data close, others don't want the hassle and expense of maintaining the file servers and software used by employees for their day-to-day work.

Documents can also be e-mailed or posted to a blog directly from Google Docs. And more features like these are being added all the time.

Possibly the greatest thing about Google Docs is the access to your documents from any Web-connected computer. Just open a Web browser and log in from
wherever you happen to be, and all your Google Docs files are right there. Spell-checking? It's there, too.

Now before you go chucking your regular office suite, be it Microsoft Office, OpenOffice or iWork, you need to know that Google Docs doesn't match them feature for feature. Easily indenting your paragraphs isn't something that Google Docs is very good at. And those typographical or "smart" quotes that make documents look just a little bit more professional are also difficult - but not impossible - to create in Google Docs.

However, for basic functionality, Google Docs can meet the needs of many of the people most of the time. And for convenience (high) and cost (none), it can't be beat.