When Google announced Google Apps today, a package of Web-based communications and office-productivity software, most of the coverage portrayed it as a straight-up Microsoft vs. Google fight, with Microsoft's lucrative Office suite locked in Google's sights. But in this battle between giants, there may be collateral damage to a host of startups trying to tackle the same business-software market, says venture capitalist and former Business 2.0 Magazine columnist Paul Kedrosky. For all those startups thinking of taking on Microsoft Office -- Red Herring counts 17 of them -- Kedrosky asks a simple question: "Why? What makes you think that you can do it so much better than Google can that the inevitable free Google Apps product doesn't kick your ass out of the office market?"

Well, here's a simple answer: Google's magic touch in search and advertising hasn't translated to hits in any other product category. While it's released dozens of neat little features, none of them is a runaway hit. And Web 2.0 blogger Richard McManus, who's reviewed a number of competing Web-based office-software products from Zoho, ThinkFree, Zimbra, and others, likes the startups' chances.

Will it be Microsoft, Google, or a startup that prevails in the fight to create a Web-based alternative to Microsoft Office?