Sure, we can wonder about the usefulness of our can of AJAX without a web to scrub, but what happens when electricity is no longer a ubiquitous commodity? We should be glad that we can argue about abstract topics such as local vs. distributed applications.

Maybe I'm jaded due to a 6 hour power outage, but hey, it's something to think about, no?

So do any of them open you up to malware invasions the way that the "wonderful" programmability of Office does?

Re the Google and Num Sum spreadsheets blinking/confirming, but not showing anything: is there any chance they were "translating" the color schemes such that the data and background were the same? I have had that happen with Pocket Excel when it opens Excel formatted sheets downloaded from a PC (due to my dark background color scheme to save battery life ;-). You could tell quickly by marking a block of cells as if to copy/paste. Just a thought.

ROC

A request: how about providing links to the sites for products mentioned? That IS supposed to be a prime feature of web-based reviews I thought.

ROC

I'm catching up on missed reading after an overseas trip, and Rist's article was very informative. It is one of the first major pieces I've read that attempts to cut through the hype and look at actual functionality. Nice work...

I think what Google and others (let's not forget that there are others) are doing around Software delivered as a Service is great for competition. Heaven knows Microsoft needs some. However, I see a future where local software traditionally delivered via the desktop Operating System meshes seamlessly with the web-enabled software services. Despite the amazing progress with connectivity there are cases where being disconnected is a reality and a choice. If anything one word characterizes Web 2.0 it is 'choice'. If software delivered as an all-or-nothing service is the future then in my mind that doesn't leave much choice. I would adopt personally the desktop experience and all of the richness and control the local processing and storage capacity gives me and blend it with the web-delivered services to make my experience more connected and ubiquitous. If my preferences and ideas are correct then Google is disadvantaged and trying to distract or persuade others to the contrary because they don't have the share of the desktop that they wish they did. I think Apple and Microsoft, not to mention Linux progress has a lot more of a position to play than Google. Google's honeymoon will have to end someday and then reality will step in.