As Good As Methadone

After my recent loss of a hard drive to the gremlins in my apartment, I've had to reinstall all of my software. This is a bit of a problem for me because half of what I had was software that I "shared" with friends of mine... meaning they brought their CD over to my computer and installed their programs on my machine. Yes, I know this is immoral and probably illegal (until my lawyers tell me it is, I have no idea), but I have my own issues with paying Microsoft for a piece of software that they engineered us to need. Anyway...

My cheating days are done. My mac is now 100% moral! I have installed no stolen, unlicensed, or communal software and pledge not to from now on. This is less a moral decision than a practical one - stolen software is a pain in the ass to retrieve when you loose your hard drive. Yet, I still refuse to give Microsoft any money for Word, Excel, and the lesser used Powerpoint. What am I to do?

This is where Google comes in. It turns out they've developed word processing, spreadsheet, and presentation software applications online! I've used these a few times with no problems but have yet to make it a standard practice to use them So, I am embarking on a bold new crusade to use only Google Documents to edit personal documents. Professionally I'm required to use MS Office on a daily basis, but I think it's fair to say that doesn't count since I'm able to easily separate my professional and personal information. So, I'll let you know how it goes. Check back for a progress report!