Google Docs and Microsoft Office Live Workspace are web-based document management applications.  Google Docs features word processing, spreadsheet and presentation applications. These applications help users create, edit, store and collaborate on documents online. They can also import documents through the web interface or sent via e-mail. Microsoft Office Live Workspace also allows users to access, edit, store and collaborate on documents online that were originally created in any of the Microsoft Office applications (Word, Excel, Outlook and PowerPoint). Currently, the beta version of Office Live Workspace is available. Microsoft intends to release its final version before the end of 2008.

The launch of Office Live Workspace has started a new discussion - Is Microsoft Office Live Workspace a better solution than Google Docs? The answer is that both applications follow a different approach, although they offer very similar functionality. In Ken Fisher’s post, Office Live Workspace Revealed: a Free 250MB "SharePoint Lite" for Everyone, he explains the Microsoft Office Live Workspace approach. He says,

“This is not a ‘Google Docs killer’ or even an ‘answer’ to Google Docs. This is not an online office suite, it's ‘software plus service.’ Microsoft's move here protects the company's traditional Office business, in that it's really positioned as a value-add to Office, rather than an Office alternative. Microsoft has seen success with its business-oriented SharePoint offering, and Microsoft is taking a kind of ‘SharePoint Lite’ approach with OLW.”

Microsoft is taking Office Live Workspace as an adjunct to its Office suite with the facility to collaborate and store Office documents online.  Google Docs is a complete online document creation and sharing environment.  In short, both applications focus on the storage and sharing of documents online. Let’s review the two applications and find out what they offer for their users.

Source: http://www.readwriteweb.com/cgi-bin/mt/mt-tb.cgi/3467

This overview shows that both applications have similar features with some variation in storage limit, file formats and file sizes. This comparison, in fact, shows Google Docs as a better service than Office Live Workspace. Perhaps when you take usability into account it is not like that.  Steven Burke has compared the two applications in his article Five Reasons Google Docs Beats Office Live Workspace, highlighting the weak side of Office Live Workspace. Dare Obasanjo presents the other side of the story in his post, Office Live Workspace: A Better Solution than Google Docs? Let’s read the two opinions and try to come to a conclusion.

Dare Obasanjo has answered Steven Burke’s objections quite comprehensively. Since Microsoft Office Live Workspace is still in the process of development and currently in its beta version, it is difficult to say anything with surety. Let’s wait for the final release of Office Live Workspace. Only then we will be able to comment on whether or not Google Docs is a better option than Microsoft Office Live Workspace.