The number and type of “Office 2.0” applications continues to expand, as documented recently by Ismael Ghalimi. He is testing these applications and is publishing the results as he goes about looking for ways to be totally dependent on browser accessible applications and remote storage.
I wish I had seen his list last week. I was looking for a flexible web-accessible database that could be shared by my wife and her business partner for storing names and addresses of potential clients. I ended up recommending (for several good reasons, despite the clunky interface) Yahoo! Groups. I belong to a couple of Yahoo! Groups and I’m a moderator of LinkedinBloggers so I’m familiar with the basic list handling “database” features of Yahoo! Groups.
Had I read Ismael’s review I might have checked out Dabble DB, whose beta test appears to be saturated so that a waiting list is being managed on that web site. But the features look quite useful when a small business wants to share lists, given that users will be moving around several different locations. (My brief description of what I’m really looking for is a tool like MS Access that can be entirely managed and administered via the web.)
Looking over Ismael’s list, I see that I already use a couple of the the applications listed there, including Google Calculator, WordPress (the blog tool of choice for The Podcast Roundtable), LinkedIn (professional networking), and 30 Boxes (shared calendar). I also regularly use Writely (shared word processor) and I’ve also occasionally been using ajaxWrite (web based word processing).
No, I’m not totally weaned from local storage and dedicated Windows or Mac applications. But I am becomng more and more accustomed to browser-accessed applications, starting with a paid subscription to Yahoo! Mail that I am now using constantly.
When I make a list of all the applications with remote storage and browser access that I currently depend on during the work day I am seeing a shift in my own behavior and this is influencing the people who depend on me for advice.