Google Docs is quite simply an amazing achievement, and for the majority of individuals presents a very credible alternative to buying a copy of Office.
Google describe it as " a suite of products that lets you create different
kinds of documents, work on them in real time with other people, and
store your documents and your other files -- all online, and all for
free. With an Internet connection, you can access your documents and
files from any computer, anywhere in the world. (There's even some work
you can do without an Internet connection!) "
It has some amazing features built into it, including the ability to collaborate on documents, use forms to get feedback, to name a couple. It will convert documents from most major formats, and gives a number of export options to download it to your machine.
It also integrates with other google products including google translate. This allows for quick and dirty translation of foreign documents or spreadsheets and can be an invaluable time saver, when a precise translation is not required.
For the majority of us who don't need some of the more complex features of Excel or Access then Google Docs is going to cover what you need from an Office Suite. Don't let the simple appearance of the product convince you that it isn't any good. Underneath the basic exterior is a very powerful tool.
If you still haven't checked it out, go to