Everyday, we use programs on the computer. Double click on this icon here; open up this file there; run this program here; close that program down over there… how long will this continue?
We are gradually moving quickly into a new era whereby software will no longer be the software that we purchase, take home and install. What are the implications? One of the key factors will be how we deal with the files we save. The Government has been dealing with this for quite sometime ever since Microsoft has been hit with anti-trust lawsuits but it continues till this day. Interested? Read this. David Wheeler has written a great article on why how files are saved today have such a huge impact on tomorrow. To simplify it for lazy folks like myself: What would happen if 20 years down the future, the government needed to open a vital document in Word, only to find out that:
- Microsoft no longer exists to support the file
- No one has the original version of Word that the file was saved under.
- All new programs are not backwards compatible. Especially since the new program is called Phrase.
Imagine if we had vital counter-terrorist intelligence that we could not access! Oh no what shall we do! (Call in George W. Bush and start improvising!) Well, you get the point. But this is actually besides the point. This is merely one of the few implications of web applications.
Why do I point this out? Because there are just so damn many out there. Everyday I read about a new web application available for tinkering around. If everyone is making a web application and saving our files online with varying standards and storing them on their server. What happens when we want to access those source files? Sure we can export from the web application to PDF, current word or excel files, jpegs, etc.; but what if…? I am just pointing out the dangers of the dramatic increase in web applications.
For the time being, let’s explore and enjoy the wave of apps that have arrived; want some examples? Here goes! There are many, but I am only going to point to a mere few that I feel are really substantial to well, my peer group I guess. Read on and you’ll find some links to the full list.
You may not know it, but if you use Google Maps or MapQuest, those are a couple of older types of web applications. Not necessarily operating like what we refer to as a software application but in reality, it is.
Word Processing and Spreadsheet Works
Writely - a separate company called Upstartle developed a complete online version of a word processor like Microsoft Word, Corel Wordperfect, etc. was acquired by Google not to long ago. Now you can find it as a part of the Google Docs and Spreadsheet package. You don’t have to download anything. You just log in and use the word processor or spreadsheet program.
Presentations
Like PowerPoint, only web-based. Wouldn’t it be great if we didn’t have to deal with varying versions of Microsoft PowerPoint or lost PowerPoint presentation files? Take a looksee!
Thumbstacks
Just one of a number of web applications out there focused on bringing alternative methods for you to make presentations to your fellow classmates and colleagues. Does not look like a web-based application, but it is clean and from what I have noticed, not too buggy. Give it a shot.
Image Editing
These have typically been quite complex to develop, but with recent technological advancements (i.e. ultra high-speed connections) and a heck of a lot of hard work (kudos to these people) we may begin to see the rise of Adobe Photoshop/Illustrator-like web applications on the web. While they are still working out the bugs, they are simply amazing to see.
Picnik
Picnik is more like a photo editing program running over the web. Very smooth and slick. Not all the features are available, but at the same time, if you are running short of time and you need to do a quick crop on an image, tada! a solution has been found!
Gliffy is a flow-chart diagram editor and creator. A little buggy still, but you can still manage to create some excellent wire-frame layouts or flowcharts with this spiffy web app!
Another photo editing web app. Pretty basic image editing, but very easy to use and responds pretty quickly.
Organizational and Scheduling
Everyone is looking to replace Outlook with something that is easier to use and more universal to help people collaborate and share. Google of course drops another application for everyone to use.
Simple to use and replaces the Outlooks functions. Only problem now is waiting for everyone who uses Outlook to plan their daily life to switch over. Nevertheless, I use this on a daily basis at work to remind me of appointments and it is great. I just leave one of my browser tabs open on Google Calendar and it’ll pop up through all the tabs and windows 10 minutes before the scheduled appointment. It can also share your schedule with colleagues, friends, and family, but the catch? - they need a gmail account too. Hurray for convergence!
A pretty simple to-do list application. You log in and edit your to-do list or post any notes to yourself, and then you can have it constantly linked with your desktop so you always see everything on your desktop OR you can have it open up as your homepage.
Collaboration Tools
Team work or Teamwork? If only this compound word would literally stay together in the real world. Because teamwork is so difficult to manage, software to help people coordinate, share information, ideas and collaborate on projects has continued to be on the forefront of office applications. Like Microsoft Office, Adobe Bridge and Version Cue, etc. Everyone is consistently worried about information (data) and how we manage files.
8apps
I don’t get to really test run this set of web apps, but it seems like they essentially turned the idea of a social networking site into a more complex web application that focuses on sharing ideas, and files as well as keeping track of progress in various projects. It does look pretty good … I just don’t know how useful it will be.
There are many many more of these web apps. Solution Watch listed at least over 25 of them, all of them of different and suited for various ways of working. I definitely recommend reading their article which lists practically all of the major web applications out there.
Back to School with the Class of Web 2.0 Part 1
Back to School with the Class of Web 2.0 Part 2
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All of these applications are free, but is there a cost in the long run? Potentially. Just like we may suddenly feel stuck without a copy of Microsoft Word, Macromedia Dreamweaver or Adobe Photoshop working properly on our computers, we’ll probably feel the same way if our Internet connection conked out and suddenly we cannot access all the tools of productivity that we are accustomed to.
I may be a fan of collaboration online, sharing and online storage so that we can do whatever we want wherever we go, but I’d be hesitant to let our computers simply become an access panel to the Internet without some assurance that there is a plan B if the Internet fails.
technorati tags:technology, google, gliffy, 8apps, students, office, applications, thumbstacks, presentation, word, processor, spreadsheet, photo, editing, flowchart, diagram, web, picnik, image, productivity, collaboration, online, sharing, trends
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