Any views on which is better.
Do they both emulate M$ Office to the same degree, or is one better than the other? Also are they as good as each other for converting files backwards and forwards with M$ Office?
Appreciate Google Docs lets you store your documents with Google and the associated pros and cons of that.
Openoffice is like the open source copy of MS office. A part from MS office 2008 format (they might have fixed it by now). All previous formats along with open document format (odf) is supported. It has the whole shebang (excel, word, powerpoint etc.)
Google docs is limited. It lets you write small articles, if you are not fond of including tables, and other complex objects in your article. But it is extremely simple. I generally use it to store my ideas, but not for writing publishable articles. The google powerpoint is simple, but effective.
If you have missed it (as it is a cult software), try using latex. It has a learning curve, but the results and quality beats almost anything.
Overall, I think you are better off with openoffice, more flexible and more features.
One last point, most of the people have problem while printing the document if they have different versions of MS Word . Try to convert your Word document in to pdf or PS format before printing and save yourself the avoidable hassle every time.