Some of you have been worried about our future here at Writely. As one concerned user wrote:

"I love Writely, but... I was wondering, is there any way to send you guys some money? I understand it's free and all, but I just feel bad that you don't charge. Thanks!"

We appreciate the sentiment, and all the support we've gotten from our users, but thankfully, your donations won't be necessary, for one very exciting reason:

Writely is now part of Google!

Yes, we've been acquired by Google, and we're really excited about this for many, many reasons. But I can hear you saying, "I don't care why YOU'RE excited - I want to know how this change will impact ME!"

Our #1 priority is to maintain (and improve) the reliability, privacy and security of the Writely service for our current users.

The Google announcement will undoubtedly generate a lot of interest in Writely -- perhaps too much -- and we're committed, on your behalf, to keeping our current service running smoothly. So, while we're moving Writely to Google's software architecture, we're closing off new registrations. Get on the waitlist and we'll notify you via email when you'll be able to try out Writely.

But what if you're already using Writely? Don't worry,

Current users can keep using Writely as is.

Yes, you can keep using Writely, and we promise that we'll work hard to ensure that the transition to our new Google-ized service is seamless. And yes, we agree that the ability to share documents and collaborate is critical to Writely users, so we'll continue to allow existing users to add collaborators even as we temporarily stop accepting new sign-ups. However, we are limiting the number of new collaborators (who aren't already registered with Writely) that you can add for the next few days.

Questions?

We figure you probably have lots more questions, so we came up with an FAQ to answer them. But enough about you! Aren't you at all curious about why WE (Sam, Steve, Claudia and Jen) are excited about being part of Google?

Here are our "top 10" reasons why being part of Google is fantastic for Writely and the Writely team:

10. Writely is like a caterpillar that we hope to make into a beautiful butterfly at Google!
9. We love Google's philosophy and values -- especially "Focus on the user."
8. We're as passionate as Google is about respecting users' privacy.
7. Many of our users are already Google fans using other Google services.
6. Being at Google will help us do more great things faster.
5. Some people didn't feel comfortable trusting a tiny startup with their documents...and we're no longer a tiny startup.
4. We like lava lamps and they're pretty much standard decor at Google.
3. Three words: Free Googleplex lunches ;)
2. As fun as it's been to launch a popular, global, 24x7 Web service, it'll be nice to take a vacation once in a while!
...and the number one reason???
1. We'll be able to bring Writely to not just thousands but millions of users -- the more, the merrier :-)

Thanks to everyone who has helped us get here...especially all our Writely beta users!