MLA CE: Week 5 homework

I'm way behind, hoping to catch up today WITHOUT scrimping on the homework assignments. This was the "web office tools" week, and the "homework question" was "Is this the future of all software products?"

This will probably be a very important option for future software, and will likely become the "plan A" for many people and projects. Especially for personal use, the lower costs and non-hassle with buying/installing upgrades will be welcome. Access to files stored elsewhere will be easy, and will make everything from travel (home-to-work or home-to-Tahiti) to changing hardward easier. But security of the files will be a consideration, and that may be the primary consideration for corporations and businesses -- as would simple preservation of the files themselves. (If they're stored on a corporate network, the corporation has these issues covered.) One of the reviewers mentioned keeping personal backups in case the web software company suddenly ceased to exist, and that's the issue.

The other wrinkle is that if web-based software requires a web connection for all use, it's obviously not available where the web isn't.And as ubiquitous as web access is becoming (WiFi in airports, etc.), it isn't everywhere.... if I want to work on a document in the car while my husband is driving us to visit relatives on the weekend, I'd better have document-software I can use on my laptop. Some sorts of "work offline" options could (and probably already) exist, and that may well be part of what's in the paid products.

I also don't know if there will be compatibility issues that will be a factor in sharing. As long as there are free online versions of the software, or the ability for anyone to register for a free account and thus share documents, this problem would be minimized. If the products differ much in capabilities or interfaces, we'll have to learn several in order to communicate with colleagues in various spheres.

All told, there are obvious pros and cons, and no one answer for all situations. Having the options is always good, however, and we all need to explore them to find out what's best for a particular situation.

GH