What is "better" about MS word than google docs? The only reason I see to use word is if you're using files from 1999 that don't work anywhere else.

Google docs is a much simpler system, especially for places like schools because of the "cloud" nature of it. Google docs has all the features the average person needs.

MSWord is for specialty cases, google docs and the open alternatives are for everyone else.

I'm about to earn a masters degree and I've never needed to use MS word. Double spacing, page numbers, and aligning text work in just about every processor. I've rarely received a word document from a professor that used advanced features of word, they're always poorly formatted.