thing 18: google docs and other web-based software applications

i happen to love google ... i google everything and have no fear of using google as a verb. i don't even mind if the good people at google are spying on me. so i decided to check out google documents, since i have strong brand name loyalty. turns out i already have documents saved in Google Docs. i logged into google (as i am a gmail user) and lo and behold there were already documents there! you see, i am in a creative writing group and it turns out that a lot of the submissions that have been passed around were saved in my google docs unbeknownst to me! who knew? not it. and sometimes member of my group will edit text and then send it back with corrections and comments and things highlighted in red. i had no idea that they were using google docs!

so i think google docs is cool. for word processing, it seems just as good as microsoft word, if not better because it's on the internet and it's FREE! (i just bought a macbook and am debating about buying microsoft office for myself) but here is the downfall of google docs and other web-based applications ... you have to be online, right? sometimes i don't have internet access but i have my laptop and i'll want to do some word processing. you know, like if i were in a cafe without wifi. or if i was somewhere cheezy like starbucks and had to PAY for wifi, which i refuse to do because wifi should be FREE FREE FREE. also, the internet in my area seems to go out alot. i think i live in some sort of time warner black hole. so i can't really count on web-based applications ... however, i like the idea of uploading documents to a web-based application so that i could access them remotely. so in conclusion my verdict is .... drum roll ...

web-based applications are very useful, but i don't think you can use them as your primary software ... unless you live in a perfect world of constant internet access, you're going to need to pay for some software. (damned you microsoft i WILL be buying microsoft office for my mac!) or you could use that linux stuff my computer dork friend is always yapping on about.