I think you overestimate how much people actually understand/care about how computers works.
Did you see googles video asking people what a browser is? if you provide an office like interface in a browser and it works and is stable, then people will use it, and probably be completely oblivious to the fact anythings changed.
Until they try to drag'n'drop, or include excel sheets, or use a reference manager, or define that page numbering should start 1.5cm from the right side and start numbering on the third page as if it was the first, or add a "printed date" to the frontpage. Or text in small caps or an end note, or any mildly complex reference or any mildly complex formatting.
I specifically chose those actions that a non-tech user near me had to perform int the past two days. These are normal tasks that normal users have to perform.
Did this user have to do these things to produce a document for dead tree consumption? I don't doubt that these features are necessary for producing something pretty on the printed page, but that use case is becoming less and less common.
Right now, I'm consulting for a Fortune 500 manufacturing firm's IT group. They're pretty old-school in a lot of respects, but the only printed Word document I've been given since starting here has been the telephone manual! People carry their laptops to meetings and read stuff electronically. Some people still print out stuff, but it's not all that common. The print-friendly Word features are becoming more like Pagemaker features -- really useful, but not necessary for 95%+ of employees.
Did you see googles video asking people what a browser is? if you provide an office like interface in a browser and it works and is stable, then people will use it, and probably be completely oblivious to the fact anythings changed.