Going Wired-Less

It is not uncommon for us to discuss and debate technology trends in my department, and as an avid user of Google Docs (bias alert), I was alarmed at this article which Scott emailed to me from Wired News. It takes on the appearance being an evaluation of Google Apps and Microsoft Office, but is really an evaluation of Google Apps against Microsoft Office. I will explain why I think this is inappropriate, followed by a reflection on the comments the author made.

The (implied) starting point for this article is “Is Google Apps Microsoft Office?” This is going to be a very difficult pill for a lot of people, but let’s ask – Is Microsoft Office really what you want? I would like to give as a strong a No! as the Wired article author issued against Google Apps, but I won’t. At work, and perhaps in some other isolated contexts as well, Microsoft Office is very appropriate. I’ll be fair – I’ve used MS Office and OpenOffice at the desktop level, and these suites offer extremely powerful tools that I cannot imagine doing my day-to-day work without. They cannot be removed from the game at this level, and in this point I agree that Google Apps has quite a way to go.

But should your personal computer be equipped with the same enterprise-level tools, and at a greater price tag? Being the power-user you are, you may respond with a mind-numbing yelp of affirmation. I will refrain. Excel is a great example – it offers a wealth of tools, the half of which I will never properly know how to wield. I feel like a hardcore power-user when I do a SUM across columns or do a fill-down with a formula. Needless to say, this barely scratches the surface of Excel’s capabilities, yet I will never use them. At this point alone, I chose OpenOffice over MS office, as I got all the power I could ever want in a spreadsheet for that hard-to-beat-price of free.

Having established that I don’t need $200 of enterprise-level tools on my desktop to make a grocery list or keep track of Uno scores (an actual task my wife used Excel for), I would like to submit a reflection on the points made in the Wired article against Google Apps, out of having used them exclusively in my personal and graduate-level school work for about 6 months.

Privacy

If someone else does happen to hack in and steal my essay on John Wesley’s A Plain Account of Christian Perfection, I pray it may it may cause the heart of the reader to be strangely warmed. Privacy is of utmost concern, but I would affirm that while storing your password list in a Google Spreadsheet may not be as safe as simply not writing down your passwords anywhere, that list is just as safe in the hands of Google as it is on your desktop. On your PC, anyone logged into the computer can find the file and open it (usually). With Google Apps, they must either be logged in as you, or you must have given them explicit collaboration or viewing rights to that document.

Google Apps is Incomplete

And I quote, “Where is the Powerpoint killer?” Powerpoint was the Powerpoint killer. It was fun in Office ’97, but today, sequential slides of text with ‘wordart’ titles doesn’t qualify as multimedia. I had a class last fall where the prof used Powerpoint, and every single word on every single slide drop-animated into place. It looked like the Matrix in slow-motion with agonizingly anti-climactic end results.

I believe there should be a replacement for Powerpoint, but it will probably come (or has come) through apple.

There is also some attempt to argue that storing contact information on a local computer is more organized and efficient than storing it on the internet. GMail’s contacts system is wonderful, and I have long made the switch to using it exclusively for keeping track of contact info. Added bonus: In both Facebook and, more recently, Skype, I have entered my Gmail login and password and they retrieve my contact list, automatically importing it into their program for you to use. In a previous decade this may have been accomplished by exporting a CSV (there go my separated values again) into an external file (remember where you save it!) and importing it into the application. The newer approach is quicker and easier. And cooler.
Working on the Web is Weird

Not working on the web is weird. Once you have come to enjoy perpetual access to your files from any computer, there is great disdain for doing it the old way. There is a paradigm switch, especially in the form of organization through tags instead of a folder system, but it is well worth the investment. Lastly, ‘working on the web is weird’ is only valid for those who don’t already play on the web. If you have never before used a Web2.0 application (MySpace doesn’t count) then Google Apps will be a whole new world. If you have been using Flickr, Facebook, 43things or 43places, Gliffy, LibraryThing, or any number of other Web2.0 apps, then Google Apps is going to feel like home.

No Offline Access

The argument:

1. “Sometimes the tubes get clogged.”
2. “There’s no wi-fi on planes.”
3. “No access if Google goes down.”

I’ll try and answer these in order. It should be stated that the very hinge that allows Web2.0 apps to even exist is the proliferation of broadband connectivity. The technology, software-wise, has been in place for a cool 10 years prior to the current “boom” we are experiencing with web applications, but it has required speed and “tubes” that have not been available until now. But they are now available. It will only continue to become more available, and I do not support giving web apps a thumbs down just because it isn’t absolutely everywhere. It’s like saying “Let’s not buy a cell phone until we are absolutely sure that we will never lose service anywhere we go.”
I will concede that there is still no wi-fi on planes. Those are the most harrowing four hours I experience every year. And finally,there is a greater chance of your desktop hard drive catching on fire then Google going down. The security of having your documents stored on a server is about as safe as you can get.
I believe this addresses Wired magazine’s concerns. There are other features, not even touched upon, but you should really just use it and discover them for yourself.