Web Office Application

I originally had some reservations about posting information online for all to see, especially the idea of people editing the material. But after learning about some of this technology the last few weeks, I am much more at ease with the concept, including this week's assignment. I thought it was pretty cool to experiment with other classmates projects. I liked Keith's calendar listing every one's birthdays. I used Google Docs to post my document. I uploaded a Word document that I thought my classmates might find interesting. It consists of my top ten labor events in the last twenty five years. This type of assignment would seem to really benefit from collaboration. A person could add or subtract events as he/she seems fit. They could also explain why they chose to edit the list and get feedback from others on reasons why the event should stay. Another good example would be a timeline that people could add significant dates to. Google Docs seemed to be a pretty popular option to use. Honestly, it seemed to have most of the major options that the basic word processor provides, including choice of fonts and formatting. You can also insert images, web links, and tables.
I can see two major advantages of online document services. First, because the document is online, a person can access it from any computer. Second, you can share an online document with anyone, person or group, with a Google account and like a wiki, it tracks all edits made to the document.This can be done in real time. How cool is that?? Another interesting feature in Google Docs was how you could load a spreadsheet, set up a form with questions to ask co-workers or employees, send out the question via email and their answers would automatically get entered into the main spreadsheet. I forgot to mention that you can also pick who can access your document and Google claims that the files are stored securely. An obvious disadvantage would be that if you lose your Internet connection, you are out of luck. I also read an article about schools being uneasy about this type of application because the files are residing outside their networks and thus outside of the school's control. I am not sure if any of these services can be hosted on your own server. Here is the link to my document http://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=0AVbYMbnHQ8K4ZGNoZDk1cGNfMWNybTk2MmNu&hl=en