Writely allows users to store and work with text documents on the Web. Users can share selected documents with other Writely users of their choosing, enabling groups to collaboratively edit documents.

Continuing its trend of gobbling up promising Web 2.0 startups, Google has acquired Writely, an online word processing service. Both companies posted the news on their corporate blogs Thursday. Writely allows users to store and work with text documents on the Web. Users can share selected documents with other Writely users of their choosing, enabling groups to collaboratively edit documents. Launched in August by Upstartle, a three-person software development firm, the Writely service has operated as a free beta project, though its developers said their eventual goal was to introduce subscription fees for advanced features and corporate use. After announcing its acquisition by Google, Writely promptly closed its site to new registrations while it works on migrating to Google's software stack. The site plans to continue operating normally for current registered users.