Tangentially related, but something I found interesting: google seems to have retained "writely" as it's internal app identifier for google docs. If you're not logged in, docs.google.com redirects to https://www.google.com/accounts/ServiceLogin?service=writely
Sam Schillace came to a Bootstrapper Breakfast last year, he has started more than a dozen firms (some of them more short-lived than others). He felt that they got a huge boost from Tim O'Reilly putting them on stage before a Microsoft keynote to set up a number of questions about "Word on the Web" and that they were in the right place at the right time to trigger a bidding war. They definitely had a lot of experience but there was a considerable amount of fortunate timing involved. There is a short interview with Sam here http://www.bootstrappersbreakfast.com/blog/2008/10/01/sam-sc...
