Thing 8

Hmmm. On the one hand, anything that puts a stake in the evil heart of Microsoft Word must be a Good Thing, as Martha Stewart might say. On the other hand, internet service remains, at least for many of us, at the whims of spectacularly inept providers like AOL, Comcast, etc. I would not want to entrust my documents, especially those I needed for anything work related, solely to the whims of my internet provider being up and working well. At least Microsoft Word does not run slow due to heavy usage of others, etc. Nor does it go out when the wind blows too hard, unlike Comcast.

I also wonder about the security level of using online Google documents. Most of us have had our email addresses stolen by a variety of spam agents. I now receive about 10 emails daily insisting I buy giant tomato trees and drugs to enhance body parts I do not possess. The clients of our CPA firm would probably be less than thrilled to have their financial statements and social security numbers accessible to a hacker of Google documents.

Re: my library job and such applications: as a page, alas, I cannot think of one! However, I do think that libraries are going to have to step up to the plate in a very big way in terms of making more computers more accessible to more people (not just cardholders, either), given the dire state of the economy and this is something that could be helpful to many patrons. Students could also make use of it.