New Office 365 users will have to click an Outlook link to see their e-mail, and learn a new Web-based interface (assuming they have no prior experience of Outlook Web Access), and then navigate through a Team Site home page to start creating documents. Ideally, they should also configure their system to work with Office 365 by downloading a small app that will automatically configure existing installs of Office to sync-up with the cloud.

The difference between Google Apps and Office 365 is a philosophical one. The intention of Google Apps for Business is to provide an online working platform for businesses. The intention of Office 365 is to extend the Office desktop experience into the online world, and take with it the power of Exchange e-mail and SharePoint document collaboration.

This means that, in my opinion at least, Google Apps for Business is far better for new businesses that simply want to get started ASAP without having to worry about IT.

But it's also pretty clear that Office 365 will scale far better once my business starts growing. For example, should we have demands that outstrip the limited feature set of online office suites, I can upgrade my Office 365 subscription so that my users get the full Office 2010 Professional software. There's no upfront charge for the software, so no hit on my finances.

Yet even in this situation I'd be reluctant to give up Google Apps. For the users who demand more sophisticated functionality I could simply buy individual Office 2010 licenses and use , which brings the collaborative editing power of Google Docs and cloud storage to any recent Windows version of Office.