
This article is FUD
So the headline here is that Google's free product has a catch, except, as the Google product manager explains, Microsoft's offering has the same catch - neither company can handle the issue of a browser-based app having less functionality than a desktop app.
Of course there is 'bait & switch' here: Microsoft's business model is predicated on having fat desktops with far too much functionality/complexity/resource utilisation. Google's business model is for you to stick everything on the web, where it has to be simpler, but also less secure and, yes, more exposed to Google's advertising. The difference is that Microsoft's web offerings still expect you to use (== purchase) Microsoft desktop technologies (at least the browser, which means the OS too, these days). Google's offerings have no such limitations and are typically free. So why shouldn't they try to connect them to Microsoft's bloatware?