I’m betting most lawyers have not used Google Docs as a portable, free, web-based alternative to the Word/WordPerfect duopoly. And even if you have used Google Docs, you can stop patting yourself on the back now. While you were trying in vain to get the somewhat awkward interface on that system to work with you (good luck) it turns out still more web-based office systems (what we might refer to as ‘Microsoft Office Killers’) have been and continue to pop up.

Case in point. This morning I got whiplash trying to keep up with the pro-Google and anti-Google comments following the unveiling of ‘Presently’ — the code name for Google’s answer to PowerPoint, but it was actually a reference in one of the comments that lead me to Buzzword (screenshot above) — which really does look a lot (a lot) better than any Google Docs product.

Here’s the point: it’s beginning to look as if, for every ‘Presently’ or ‘Docs’ or other heavily buzzed application brought out by Google or Microsoft, there is a smaller, quieter, more elegant application out there (Thumbstacks for presentations, Buzzword for wordprocessing, etc.). And that just might mean that the ability to create useful applications is edging closer to the people who need them. What’s next, each law office creating its own version of an office suite and selling/trading/sharing it with other firms? Cats and dogs living together? The end of civilization? Or the beginning of true collaboration?

Hey, a guy can dream.