A new service for the iPad was just released.  It is OnLive Desktop.  OnLive Desktop brings   true Microsoft Office applications to the iPad.  I heard about it in this article, http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203436904577154840906816210.html?mod=djemptech_t, by Walt Mossberg in the Wall Street Journal.  While there are other apps that handle MS Office documents on the iPad, Mossberg points out that OnLive does the job much better. You do not actually install the MS Office applications on your iPad, they run on OnLive’s servers. The really good news is that the service is free.  You have to sign up at http://desktop.onlive.com and once you receive confirmation you can upload documents to their server and create or edit MS Word, MS Excel and MS PowerPoint on your iPad. I will not bore you with all of the detail here as Mossberg does a much better job in his article but if you are looking for a better way – check it out.