Users with a Live account (Hotmail, any will do) can get right now in SkyDrive and create a new text document. After that, you just invite others to participate in the editing of that document in real time. Just like Google Docs for a few years, say in passing.
Not everything is equal, however. Word Web App provides editions of parts of the text. While one person edits a stretch, it is "locked" to others. Nobody can put your hand there. The passage is only updated and becomes available again for all after the user clicks the edit button to save.
In Google Docs, collaboration is very different. Almost any change immediately appear for all users, and everyone can move in the same place simultaneously. As I understand it, control issues of conflict of Docs seems to be more precise.
In addition to the Word Web, the collaboration will also work with Office 2010 (Windows) and Office 2011 (on OS X). Upon receiving the invitation to participate in editing a document, the user that has Office installed on your machine to see the option to edit the file in the application itself. If you choose option (which tends to offer more complete features), you still know who is editing that document. All thanks to integration with SkyDrive, according to information from Microsoft.
This is the MS running behind the competition. Although the collaborative editing of Word documents Web arrives late, is paying. Has good use.
