Not good enough~!
How do you feel about online apps aka “cloud computing”? You know, Google Docs, Photoshop Express, Meebo, etc. Love them? Hate them? Couldn’t give a toss? Well one angry journalist, Paul Boutin, hates them… now! See, he used to be all about network-dependent apps, thinking, in his crazy youth spent at an MIT computer lab, that such applications simply made sense. Why wouldn’t you want all your stuff—applications, documents, and whatever else—accessible to you on every single terminal on Earth? But the more he used full-fledged desktop apps, like PowerPoint and Word (…), the more he appreciated their sheer power… new window, open!
To make an already too long post that much shorter, Boutin doesn’t like the “dumbed down”-ness of online apps; Google’s online presentation application just isn’t flashy enough for the man. Web browsers (read: Firefox) aren’t elegant enough, either, to be relied upon for mission-critical work. And what if they crash? Or your network connection dies? All those open tabs, the photo I’m editing, the e-mail I’m writing, the calendar I’m pretending to fill with can’t-miss appointments, all gone. Horrors.
A strange piece. He’s not too keen on the new Photoshop Express, which just came out, so all online apps stinks. Whatever, man. They do a good enough job. That I have the ability to log into Google from the library, my friend’s box of an apartment, Biggs’ attic or wherever, and write posts, fire up Google Reader and check on upcoming assignments can only be viewed as a positive. Suave, hombre.