Web- based Applications

I use Google Docs (which includes a spreadsheet application) frequently and find excuses to use it more often. What a wonderful use of web technology. You take the most common elements of Microsoft Word and Excel, allow global web use, sharing capabilities, and convenience and you have a recipe for a really great product. Who wants to worry about disks or jump drives that we often lose? Who wants to worry about sending attachments that we may forget to include or the person we are sending it to has trouble opening it?

What exactly are we missing by not using the Microsoft Office products? Enhancements, shortcuts, and advance uses are for expert users not for the average office worker, educator, or student. In a recent ministry effort in our apartment complex my wife and I had to keep a current database on our residents. We did it all on Google Docs and it was a simple, lifesaver. I am all for web-based applications and see them only improving as the open source trend continually advances these products.