Google Calendar and Docs: Why buy the cow when you can get the milk for free?

I had heard about these online productivity tools through a recent conversation with a colleague who uses them all the time, for instance as a way to coordinate his schedule with his spouse. I find the applications of Google Docs far more appealing that the calendar. I must admit I much prefer carrying around a "hard copy" daytimer where all I need to make a scheduling update is a pen! I do not always have ready access to a computer to make these updates online.

But I can see myself using Google Docs to create, edit and possibly even share documents online, without having to worry about saving them to a hard drive or memory stick. It all sounds very liberating. And I appreciate the fact that you can choose who can access your documents online (e.g. "viewers" vs. "collaborators")

However, two annoying things I encountered with Google Docs during this exercise:

1. There was a disconcerting delay in the time it took the characters to appear on the screen as I typed them. I don't know if this is a regular feature of the application or because (once again) "Google Docs is not supported in your browser." The former case would absolutely preclude me from using it.

2. I tried to post a Google document I created into my blog, but just ended up going around in circles at the Google Docs site. I published my document to the web somewhere, but have no idea where in Cyberspace it now resides! The help menu did not help.

I can see these online productivity tools taking away from costly, licensed MS-Office software. Why buy the cow when you can get the milk for free?