Did you know that you can now have a successful writing career without buying expensive software like Microsoft Word? Thanks to pioneers in the online office suite industry, you can now find Word-compatible programs on the internet. No longer do you have to use your disk space to store programs if you don't want to.

Personally, I still use the triple threat of Microsoft Office for Mac 2004, Ecto (blogging software) and WriteItNow, but I also use Google Docs when I'm on the road. I can now upload something I'm working on so that when traveling, even if my laptop is at home or out of commission for some reason, I can log on somewhere and access my work. Once I'm done editing, I can also save it to my computer's hard drive in addition to the copy saved online.

These online office suites have several nice features besides portability and cost (free). The biggest feature I make use of is the shared document feature. This allows you to grant a user permission to view your document online, eliminating compatibility issues and email size issues. You can also grant them levels of access: viewing only, correction notes, and full editing. It's been a handy tool to use with several of my clients around the world.

Some of the online office suites do things a little better than others. I've been using Google Docs because Google is so well known - I don't have to introduce a client to a new concept and a new platform all at once. But Google Docs has one issue - two people with full edit access to a document can edit the document at the same time. There is no built in feature with Google Docs to either prevent this altogether by only allowing one user to view a document at a time or to shut off the edit permissions of one user while another is editing.

Happily, online office suites like Peepel have handled the problem. With Peepel you can grant varying levels of privileges to your clients or collaborators, and if one of you is in the document or spreadsheet making changes, the other person has to wait their turn. It's much more civilized, and it prevents the potential for lost edits and bad duplicate changes. I also like the way Peepel looks.

Another issue with Google Docs is the auto save feature. You learn quickly that once you open a new document or spreadsheet you need to type in a title right away. Google auto saves within the first minute, so if you haven't typed in a title your document is forever known as Document # - Google offers no way to change a file name once it is created. I know the auto save feature is a great loss prevention tool, but the inability to change a file name is aggravating.

Are you limited to two choices for your online office suite needs? Not at all. As this trend of portable applications becomes more and more widely used, companies and programmers are jumping on the bandwagon. One new company still in beta is Think Free, which is in invite only mode. that link takes you to a place where you can request an invitation. BuzzWord took a slightly different approach to the online office suite movement, focusing on one product, the word processor. People who have used their word processor have called it easy to use, feature rich and beautiful to look at.

There are many more online office suites popping up, these are just the first ones to ride the new online work wave. I've enjoyed using the online software concept to smooth the way with clients, but it also works well with my fiction writing. Now, when I want to collaborate with another author on a story or have someone edit my work before sending it out for a contest or publication, I just tap them on the shoulder with editing privileges online. No more bulky emails back and forth, no more sending CDs back and forth - it's all in one place with a smooth interface on both ends, Mac or PC. Plus, when you're done you can save the files to your hard drive in a variety of accepted formats (html, doc, rtf, txt, pdf and more).