The files can be on a shared filesystem with open file locking, the word processing suite is irrelevant. Samba existed long before google docs and already did

The files can be on a shared filesystem with open file locking, the word processing suite is irrelevant. Samba existed long before google docs and already did this. We only use google because of the convenience of having everything in one interface. I think this is the real issue, we are all so lazy we would rather give away our freedom for a little bit of convenience.