Your assumption is it was Google's goal to drop a lot of money into developing Google Docs just so that Microsoft would then risk losing a fraction (i.e. people

Your assumption is it was Google's goal to drop a lot of money into developing Google Docs just so that Microsoft would then risk losing a fraction (i.e. people that are just barely willing to buy Office) of its revenue while crushing Google Docs out of existence. A master plan indeed! And Vista had a million versions. Office already has a lot, but the new one is online and free. There's SURELY enough distinction there for customers to sort it out