Apps

Each week I discover how little I know. Scary. Like the feeling you get when you look at the night sky and realise that it goes on forever. The Net's like that; we will never get to the end.

My huge learning leap into the unknown for this week was into free applications online: word processing, spreadsheet, slideshow, email, chat, wiki, the list goes on. Sometimes I already knew the name ( like Google Docs ) but I hadn't used it.

So now I've had a go at converting files with Zamzar, and will try it again the next time a customer at our public pcs brings in a file in a version or software different from ours.

I Google doc'd (new verb) a file to share with the Learning 2.0 team and found Google Docs easy to use. I saw that Zoho writer had more word-processing options, and the documents looked better to me. Then I looked at several comments and blogs comparing Zoho suite and Google Docs. The word seemed to be that Zoho had more features in each application and had more applications altogether ( such as a applications for databases, project management, and a personal organiser), and was aimed more at business while Google Docs was aimed at Google consumers. But Google Docs has the advantage of its relationship with Gmail and other Google products, and has the resources to keep adding products so its competitors don't get too far ahead.

I can see the benefits of online file storage -the portability and ease of sharing. Is it only a matter of time before we use online files with the same ease we use Gmail, Hotmail and Yahoo for email? When I opened my first Hotmail account it was so I could use it when travelling overseas, and my Outlook account was my 'real' email. Today most young people use their Hotmail/Yahoo/Gmail by choice, and wouldn't think of buying software if there is a free version on the Net. In fact they don't think of buying software at all.