Brett's Blog True collaboration May 01, 2009 | 1:28 am Imagine opening your web browser and logging into your collaborative account. You have immediate access to a word processor, mp3 player, instant messenger, news reader, spreadsheet, calculator, calendar, address book, email, private and public file access. It's like a computer within your computer based on the web. You could store game files and images, and let others contribute to them. I've tried it locally and it's pretty cool, but is it really feasible over the web? Would anyone actually use it or would it be a novelty that is soon forgotten? 3 Comments | Add Comment | Permanent Link | Return to Overview mtwofive Commented: May 01, 2009 | 7:14 pm I don't know. It used to be that way. Applications were served up from a mainframe to so-called 'dumb terminals.' But with so much computing power out there, who wants to be cut off from their apps and documents when they don't have an internet connection? Email works as a web-app because it is primarily an on-line activity. Wikis work as on-line collaborative apps because they are meant to have long term visibility on the internet. Traditional desktop apps (word processing, spreadsheets, etc.) are built on a different usage model. Brett Commented: May 01, 2009 | 11:32 pm As cool as I thought it was, that's how I feel about it as well. paraplegic racehorse Commented: May 02, 2009 | 3:34 pm I don't know. The real advantage of Google Docs, Zoho Office and others is the fact that I can sit down at any web kiosk anywhere in the world and work on my document. Granted, that's usually not super-important, but it's big points. Also, these web-apps contain all the functionality most people need without spending the big $$$ on that bloated Microsoft product (Office) or dealing with the poor response time of that bloated Sun/Open Source product (Star/OpenOffice). Also, people really DO collaborate on documents. Note the multi-editor functions available in the big-name office suites. The web-apps provide the ability for two people to work on the same document - SIMULTANEOUSLY - and that just flat out trumps the big guys. Okay, this is not a feature most people need in their word processors (most can get by with a basic text editor) or spreadsheets or presentation programs. So what? With the addition of Google Gears, you can work on your Docs or Zoho stuff offline and it auto-syncs when you connect. Another trump of the big-name desktop apps. I don't have to be connected ... and it has better collab functionality. And it's easier to share with others. And... And... I still use my desktop apps for some things, but I am just more and more often doing things in web-apps. As the web-apps become more sophisticated and competitive feature-for-feature with their desktop siblings, I think more and more people will move away from the desktop paradigm. Add Comment