google docs
Google Apps for business use costs, but as far as I can tell Google Docs is free for business use. In the Google documentation on the topic, it just seems to state that it's free, full stop (I can't find the page I read that on, sorry).
However, in the Google Docs section of Google Apps, there is a "free trial" offered, which seems to imply that it's not free (though it could just be a marketing tactic!).
Can anyone confirm whether or not Google Docs is free for business use?
As noted by Felipe Alvarez, this is no longer available as an option. Therefore, while this answer was correct two years ago when the product was Google Docs, it no longer applies to the current Google Drive app.
Assuming you mean opening documents from your list, that's in the Google Docs settings on the "General" tab.
Where items open:
Your choices are:
Screen shot:
Select the latter for what you want.
I think mostly so that they can act like bookmarks, only better. I have a Google Docs icon on my desktop that will launch Chrome and go straight to my documents. Sure, I could drop a bookmark there just as easily, but by default it'll have the logo of my default web browser. Sure, I can change it, but it's a hassle. Also, since it's a "Chrome app", it can do a lot of things that apps can that URL links can't. It's easy to pin it to the start menu and/or the task bar.
Then there's also the Chrome App Launcher, which is a convenient menu of all of your Google apps.
It seems to me that they're really just for convenience. They're certainly not essential. If you can live without them, great.
(I think there was some speculation that having these apps might make working offline work or work better, but it doesn't seem like that's what's going on.)
Best Answer
The new EULA (effective March 1) only states that
Otherwise, they reserve the right to limit the activity on any of their free services for any reason at all. You would be safer, if your needs are suited to that of a business in terms of activity, by using google apps for business to ensure you don't lose any business-critical data.