Google Opens Online Word Processor

Google late Thursday re-opened its Writely beta online word processing application, which the search engine acquired in March. Because the service was being transitioned to Google's servers, it was not accepting new accounts until today.

Writely offers document authoring and collaboration capabilities within a Web browser through the use of advanced scripting and AJAX. Features of the service include the ability for multiple people to work on a document in real time, secure storage that saves a document every 10 seconds, and an easy-to-use interface that mimics a desktop client without the hassle of a download.