Features

• Google Docs desktop app available now

  Memeo Connect for Google Apps is a desktop application that syncs desktop files with the Google Docs cloud. It helps with file conversions, too, and is available for both Mac and Windows.

• Google embraces partners to straddle desktop-cloud divide

  Google has unveiled plans today to allow Google Docs to store any type of files, and revealed a new tool from Memeo to enable users to access, migrate, and synchronize files between their desktop and Google Docs. These announcements signify a broader strategy by Google to help business customers bridge the gap between the desktop and the cloud.

• Happy Birthday, Google! Five Reasons I Can't Live Without You

  Google turned 11 yesterday, and it's hard to believe Google is only 11. Long ago it became its own verb, replacing "to search for" with its ubiquitous moniker, and permanently etched itself into Internet culture. Now, with its many offshoots, Google is no longer just a quick and easy alternative to, say, Yahoo search or AOL Web crawling, but rather, an institution.

• Free online productivity apps available now

  I'm looking forward to Microsoft's browser-based edition of Office. While the company isn't leading the trend to cloud-based apps, it's certainly in the middle of the movement. Microsoft's suite will be released next year, but you can save money by accessing online office-style apps right now. In-browser productivity suites are typically free. Plus, I like them for lightweight systems, such as netbooks, where Microsoft's desktop suite feels too bloated for even typing.

• Microsoft Office vs.Google Docs: A Web Apps Showdown

  The future may be the cloud, but it also may be Microsoft that ushers us into that realm of possibility and imagination. Today, Redmond unveiled as a part of Office 2010 a suite of Microsoft Office Web apps that will compete directly with Google Docs. While Microsoft isn't letting anyone play around with the apps just yet, on paper, Microsoft's Web apps look like they could blow Google's online services out of the water -- beta or no beta.