I have just pinpointed my single biggest gripe with G docs:

1. download any file from Google Docs, and give it a ***a file suffix
2. work on it locally; your new suffix is ***g
3. re-upload it, and you think you're done, but you're actually still looking at ***a
-you can pull up ***g by searching for "recent files"

I'm guessing Google overlooked this bug, but the deal is I end up sending last week's work to my team.

I've used docs. It's ok, but MSO has far more features and an overall better UI (something I never thought I'd say about an MS product just a few years ago). Where MS really kills it is will all the integration between apps in O365.

Disclaimer: My company pays for my O365 account. If that weren't the case I'd use something else. Being a Linux guy, I'd likely gravitate to something like LibreOffice that's free and does enough of what I need (even if it's well short of what I can do with MSOffice).

Google Sheets is so basic in function that it's not usable for me other than the simplest of spreadsheets. I'm no Excel wizard by any stretch of the imagination, but I have quite a few Excel sheets I've tried to bring in over to Sheets and Sheets falls flat on its face. I hate Microsoft with a passion, but Office still has the feature set I need. The ribbon UI still sucks as bad as always, and it feels like each version is getting worse. LibreOffice is pretty good, better than Sheets, but still lacks some of the higher-end Excel features. Unlike Sheets, it can at least do a proper pivot table.

As far as file storage, 100% local for me. At the end of the day, no one else cares about you/your company's data like you do. Too many issues with cloud storage to count, with the #1 being backups. Most cloud services are sync, not backup services. Delete/damage the file and good luck getting back to where you started. I'm a huge fan of SyncThing and use that to move files between my various phones, tablets, etc. I have Versioning enabled in SyncThing as well.

For the future? I think a hybrid cloud/local setup will be what most people use. If they could make it truly seamless, it could work for many (most?) people. Somewhat like my SyncThing setup where files are local, but are sync'd and backed up in the background.

Update:

Several days ago, my boss gave me a beatdown because one of our shared documents displayed the .docx file suffix (my fault, of course), and the chosen font was not supported by Google (i.e. no bold, underline, italics). Afterward, I pretty much conceded defeat, and have been trying my best to get used to Google's menu structure. My plan (for now) is to work on text only in Word, and paste edits into our shared docs. I've also made "Roboto" my new choice sans-serif font:
https://kinsta.com/blog/best-google-fonts/

For PPTs that I don't make myself, the new drill is going to be comments only (i.e. let the designers deal with design).

Spreadsheets are my last remaining stand (i.e. if anyone wants my help, expect an xlsx).

For you Office users, I'm surprised you're not taking advantage of coauthoring and simultaneous editing.
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/...0-8586492a1f1d

The actual Word application experience is miles better than editing Google Docs in a browser. Granted, I'm in a corporate office environment where everyone has Office 365, autosave is enabled (automatic sync to OneDrive), and the master files are often in SharePoint or similar. Functionally though, it's the best of both worlds.

One area I find Google much better at in general is ease of sharing documents, especially given how it integrates directly into Gmail (or its Google Workspace equivalent) since the embed is right in the email, you can pass around a link and open it from your browser, etc.

I tend to think of the two as complementary tools. For actual documents (e.g. writing a contract) I'd much rather do it in Word. If I'm just drafting an office memo, I might do it in Google Docs and share a link around.

I'm a home officer, using MS Office on my local system for my businesses. I avoid subscriptions whenever possible. Have found recent Office Suite upgrades as needed on T-bargains for low $. Now have Office on all my equipment, kids and wife too. I wouldn't think of depending on the cloud, except for backblaze backup. Also have a big Western Digital B/U drive raid locally. Google is great at many things, but not docs. Didn't that start as STAR years back?

Google's cloud office applications did not hail from StarOffice.

Google really is great for collaboration... if you need multiple people working on a document, including simultaneously, its shortcomings as an individual office productivity suite are overcome by its collaborative features. While the desktop versions of MS Office are the most fully-featured, Microsoft's web versions and its overall collaboration functionality is just. so. clunky.

I could not disagree more, coming from a Unix and Linux background Windows is incredibly painful to develop on. Maybe in the fat client days, but with most of my work being containerized or cloud native functions Windows provides little value and feels foreign.

To the original question we're an M365 shop but have embraced OneDrive and thankfully people that insist on sending attachments instead of editing the shared copy are getting fewer and fewer. It's quite annoying with most of the team is collaborating on a shared version but then someone sends a file with v7-DRAFT-FINAL-WITHMODS-TT1 appended to the file name and we have to try and merge it with the master copy.

Google docs for personal use 100%.

I want to tell you guys about an experience that I had with Office 365 this week.

My personal laptop was running low on disk space.

MS advised me that I had close to a Terabyte of files (the bulk of these were videos that I didn't care about) in a mysterious folder called "office365/docs".

Suffice it to say, I deleted the folder... and my computer was happy.

The sad news is that my documents folder no longer existed, along with the file path office365/docs. In the end, I was able to recover almost everything (thanks to OneDrive).

But, the experience wasn't especially friendly.

Yes, I have been burned by that before. I generally delete specific or small groups of files. Mass deletion just causes trouble.

Now that I am retired, my needs are low, and I am not sharing much with others, I just use LibreOffice. The price is right.

I understand that this post is over 2 years old.
MY BOLD. Is T-bargains still a risk-free place to purchase Microsoft Office? I am one of those who don't want nor need to be working online (and storing docs online).

Appreciate any input and comments. TIA.

Speaking on behalf of a "friend", "they" have had good luck with licenses from Groupon and Woot. Woot would be the number one choice, but their inventory is sporadic. While you could come across a shady seller on Groupon, at least you would have no problem with a refund.

Edge case, befriend someone at Microsoft and get a Friend pass to the company store
Office 2024: $30
M365 Individual 1 year: $20
M365 Family 1 year: $26

Depends on how much of a bargain... I use urcdkeys... Lots of tubers use it apparently.