Tonight Google launched its long-awaited presentations tool as part of the ghastly named Docs & Spreadsheets suite. But smartly the company has simultaneously changed the name of Docs & Spreadsheets simply to Google Docs. It could equally have been changed to “Google Office,” however, which the presentation software now appropriately completes.

While the presentations application doesn’t attempt to compete directly with Microsoft PowerPoint, it does compete directly with online presentation tools and software. Presentations can be shared with collaborators or published to the Internet.

There are various other competitors offering similar online presentation software or collaboration tools such as Transmedia’s Glide or Zoho. (On the desktop IBM is introducing a new Office-like software called Symphony, based on OpenOffice.)

Here’s more from the Google Blog and a video about Google Docs generally:

Related Topics: Google: Docs & Spreadsheets

About The Author: Greg Sterling is a Contributing Editor at Search Engine Land. He writes a personal blog Screenwerk, about SoLoMo issues and connecting the dots between online and offline. He also posts at Internet2Go, which is focused on the mobile Internet. Follow him @gsterling. See more articles by Greg Sterling