Software as a Service solutions such as Google Apps could change office computing as we know it.
The days of corporations using outdated software long past its "sell by" date may be going the way of the dodo. Capgemini, an IT services and business consultancy company, will begin to
offer Google Apps to its corporate clients.
The use of Google Apps is not meant to replace Microsoft's Office as a whole (at least for now) but to compliment the productivity software by allowing users to create and work on the same content simultaneously online. Currently, Google Apps offers Gmail, Google Talk, Google Calendar, Docs, Spreadsheets and more.
Software as a Service (SaaS) seems to be the next big step when it come to computing with companies such as Oracle, IBM and, of course, Google offering applications. One of the major benefits to using a SaaS application in a corporate environment is that no internal technical support team is needed to help resolve any issues as the software is stored and run from remote servers being operated by the provider. Of course another big plus is the fact that you don't pay for the software itself but rather for the use of the software. This in itself can drastically save loads of money in the long run.
Launched back in February of this year, Google Apps already has business users such as General Electric and Proctor & Gamble and will more then likely see an even larger list before the year is out.
This could be big news for SaaS applications and Google Apps alike as more and more people turn to using their software on the web instead of on their computers. And if you need more than just straight office document capabilities,
Adobe's free, online Photoshop should be coming to a browser near you sometime in the near future.
Do you use Google Apps or any other SaaS solutions? Let us know how they fair for you
over in the forums.
Now I just have to get the people to *use* it...
As, if the website or internet goes down, then your kinda screwed.
Such event is something which you cannot afford when you are a student.
Orly? What happens if you get a virus on your local machine that wipes out all of your work? Or perhaps a house fire that destroys your computer and backups. Perhaps a lockup, or BSOD prior to saving your work?
Having all of your work stored offsite is a huge plus. Then there's the one size fits all browsers, no install of office software (apart from your web browser of choice) required, and the automated saving functions of Google Office are awesomed to the max.
For 1, having 2 partition on the computer reduces some virus attacks to delete files, (as it only thinks in C:\, most of them anyway, form my personal research). Also, remember that I use a PC!, specially with Windows! Anything that is deleted can be easilly recovered with million of free (or paid) utilities. I already accidentally delete data, and able to retrieve them several days later without issue, I juts lost the file name.
For 2, I have backups. If my data was THAT important, I would simply but my disks into a firesafe lock box.
For 3, fine, let's imagine I get a lockup... if I didn't press save on the web edition of the software, won't I also lose a part of a file?!
For 4 BSOD.... Sorry I'm very carful when I build my computer and install drivers. I deep test my system. I never had a BSOD since I got my PIII 800Mhz.
Not even with Vista Beta 2 where it was stuffed with WinXP drivers to make my video card, souncard and have my mobo setup.
Also I do save regularly, and I do have auto-safe. Since I have a dual Core CPU, I realized that most app that crashes and take 100% of the CPU to a point it feels like "it lockup", thanks the the second core, I'm able to kill the app and go on.
If I have sensitive data, believe me I won't allow Google or any other company to have a sneak peek, as they do with my searches. Moreover it would be easier for hackers to hack and grab the data, as they can now simply grab my connection, instead of hacking to by-pass my firewalls and routers and so on, and more effort is required if I was in a company. Moreover, I think that a hacker has a better life then hacking my computer for pictures of my cat.
Moreover, those Google app thing requires a user name and password, which can easily be hack. Something that a company cannot, I don't believe can risk