Using only Google Docs

My MacBook Pro came with a free trial copy of Microsoft Office when I got it back in early January, and ever since it’s been counting down the days of free usage I have left - as of today: 5. The same goes for Excel.

I haven’t bothered to go looking for a Mac copy of Office because I know that my boss has the copy I use for work somewhere, and sooner or later I’ll be able to load that on this new computer. But in the meantime, I’m stuck with a copy of Word that reminds me to buy it every five minutes, won’t print, and provides a nice “Word Test Drive” watermark on the screen at all times.

This hasn’t been too much of a problem until this past week, when I started getting homework assignments again. Now, I still have my old desktop, and it still has a working copy of Word, but I’m trying to move all of my work (and school work) onto the laptop, and dedicate the desktop exclusively to gaming.

Also, that means when I carry my laptop to campus (or work), I’ve got everything I need with me, at all times, without having to worry about syncing it with data on my desktop. Brilliant all around.

A few days ago I realized that until I get word set up on my laptop, anywhere I have an internet connection (which is most places) I can use Google Docs. It doesn’t do everything, but it does everything I need: prints, saves (to rtf!), and opens Word documents. It also has a Word Count feature. In all honesty, I’m pretty amazed.

…and it’s free. Now I understand why people think Google Docs is going to take a chunk out of MS Office. The only reason I want Word is for the few times (it still happens) where I can’t get online. Otherwise, why do I need it?