Geekfoolery

Another free web-based office suite has entered the fray where already Thinkfree, Zoho, Google Docs and Spreadsheets are already trying to stake out a claim in the nascent field of web-based office software. The new guy on is Peepel, and at first glance, we’ve got a word processor, a spreadsheet, a calculator, and reportedly additional apps, such as a maps application, is in the works. Like the other players in this field, the app loads up on both Macs and PCs. Peepel seems to use AJAX, so performance and loading are pretty snappy, and the feature set included is pretty basic. I am not about to write a multi-chapter book with an index and footnotes and annotations, but for 99% of what people use a word processor for, it’s just fine. Likewise with the spreadsheet… I’m not going to load 5000 rows of data and slap a pivot table on it, but for 99% of what most people do, it’s just fine.

Why, exactly, should you use an online application, when locally installed software like MS Office is pretty much ubiquitous, and more feature-rich than the online versions? I can think of two reasons. The first is portability and backup. More and more we find ourselves working on different computers–our work computers, our home machines, the machine at the library or Internet café, or maybe your at a friend’s house, or some other reason, and you’re on some other machine, but with an online application, you have all your documents handy.

The second reason is cost. Of course MS Office is everywhere, especially at work. But that was bought and paid for with your boss’s money. You might even have a copy of MS Office at home, though in my limited experience, that copy is far less likely to be bought and paid for. But hey, you have it. Though sooner or later, you’re going to upgrade your computer, and your new machine won’t have MS Office, and you’re not getting a free copy with your computer, and then you ask how much it is, and boom, sticker shock. You don’t  use Word or Excel that much at home, but you do use them, and now you’re supposed to write a check for a couple hundred bucks? With the online office apps, you don’t have to.

Another online app that I have found very useful for many of the same reasons that an online office app is a good idea is Meebo. Meebo is a web-based interface to the big instant messaging clients out there. It lets you sign in to multiple IM services at the same time, and within the browser window, the interface is almost the same as the downloadable application. A friend of mine is a big meebo fan because his work computer is locked down so he can’t install software on it. With Meebo, as well as Peepel and the other apps listed above, no need.

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