One month ago I wrote this:

You know there has been all this discussion of whether Google, or Yahoo would come out with an office application, and "take on" Microsoft.  (And notice, nowhere did I mention Microsoft in ANY of the above applications, or actually anything installed on your desktop.)  And for myself, I always thought that it would be stupid to challenge Microsoft in terms of Office.  Office is a great product, and always has been.  Notice that Office is still an amazing seller on Apple machines, when there really is no NEED for it, per se.

But the truth is, the online world, and the various web applications are ALREADY taking on Microsoft.  If Google, or Yahoo, don't get in the game, or BUY one of the above better applications...they'll be left behind.  So they have to get moving, there really isn't much of a choice for them.

And today, I read that Google has bought Writely, the online word processor.

So, now the competition begins.  Those who can use Google for mail, IM chat, voice talk, as well as blogging, will now - once Writely is integrated into Google architecture - be able to have all documents stored on Google.

This of course, is a direct shot at Microsoft - but as I said, this was a market that moving forward, so Google had no choice but to get in the game.