This topic is definitely on the fringes of "travel" technology, but since I use both programs on all of my portable devices (that travel with me), I'm starting the discussion here.

Here goes:

1. I started using Office when I was in high school during the 90s. IMO, the core products (Word, Excel, PPT) have remained essentially the same in terms of functionality ever since. In fact, if you made me use Office 95 today, I think I'd be pretty happy. Basically, with each new release, they completely overhaul the menu structures (you know, the stuff we spend 2 years getting used to), add a few more bells and whistles (10% of which are useful; e.g. track changes seems to be an area that they always improve), update integrations with external apps like Acrobat, and push more and more cloud connectivity upon us (more on this in point 4).

I remain an Office supporter because I know it well AND I can (still) save all files locally. Some of my colleagues call me a dinosaur because I prefer sending attachments instead of sharing files for them to edit. The thing is, I don't have to worry about mastering document control with Office 365 or Google Docs because my system works.

2. Google Docs was released in 2006, but it didn't gain significant traction with me until about 5 years later. Furthermore, for the next 5 years or so, whenever people sent me Google docs, my SOP was to download the files, improve them in Office, and re-upload new versions. This caused frustration among my colleagues but didn't really affect them in a material way.

3. More recently (i.e. 6 months ago), the company has made a stronger push for collaboration via Google Docs. I tried to resist, but they showed me a single example of me editing a document in Word butchering a watermark they spent hours perfecting. Furthermore, I'm hard-pressed to think of Office functions that Google Docs doesn't support. I'm still a bit uneasy about document control. However, as long as they're paying me, and I follow policy, that's not really my problem. As such, I now edit inside docs anytime someone else sends me a link. However, I continue to start my own documents in Office, send attachments, and hope that nobody migrates them to Google.

4. My biggest pet peeve with Google Docs is its constant pressure to get me to work in the cloud. While it's true that I'm online 90% of the time, Google is difficult to access in China (and some other countries) on occasion, and I simply like working offline when I need to focus. Second, I fear accidentally deleting/changing components of shared files; never an issue if I download, save as a new version, and enable track changes. Third, Google makes local saving about as difficult as imaginable (and I'm sure this trend will continue). For example, I was trying to grab a high-resolution image from a Google doc last week, and discovered that right-click-->save simply isn't an option. As an aside, if you encounter this issue, see here and use save as HTML: https://www.bettercloud.com/monitor/...s-google-docs/

5. My main defense of Office (locally stored files) seems to have been rapidly breaking down since the advent of Office 365. They initially gave all of us 1 tb of storage (each) and doubled that number earlier this year. Furthermore, they attempt to force us to save every document we work on to onedrive (with a local backup) so we can collaborate just like we do with Google Docs. My gut tells me this is going to be a failing effort, at least in my company's case, because Google got to the punch bowl first.

In closing, while I still prefer Office (mostly a familiarity thing at this point), I am starting to realize that adapting to current times is kind of necessary, especially since many younger people have no concept (at all) about the old ways.

I'm curious to hear your thoughts, and the following questions might be useful as guideposts (but, feel free to respond as you see fit):
-do you prefer Office, Google Docs, or something else?
-do you have a preference for cloud v local?
-what's your vision of the landscape 5 years out?