Recasting the Word Processor for the Web
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/11/business/yourmoney/11proto.html (registration required).
My initial Prototype column for the New York Times. What interested me most on this topic is the most important applications from the personal computer era, the word processor and spreadsheet, do not have widely used Web versions. But that might be about to change.
Congratulations on the column, Michael!
Great first “Prototype”!
I remember when these online productivity tools first arrived in the late 90s. At the time, they were a joke, largely because of the exhausting download times in the pre-broadband era. Now, I might actually be tempted to use one, though I’d need to have some serious faith in my vendor if I’m going to store my content on their servers.
For the remote-storage phobic, there’s the “portable apps” approach, which I’ve used successfully when travelling sans laptop. There are numerous word processors, spreadsheets, browsers and more available to install on USB thumb drives so you can carry your application environment with you wherever you go. Check out http://www.portableapps.com. They even have a complete suite of tools that will run off a 256MB thumb drive.
Congrats again!
Chris