Jon’s Network

Google Docs aren’t a replacement for MS Word. Eric Schmidt even said so during his keynote interview at the Web 2.0 Expo. Google Docs enables collaboration says Schmidt. Google has done a great job at that. I now use Google Docs almost daily, but it’s not an environment I would want to work in all day long. I can work in Textmate all day long, but not Google Docs (or MS Word for that matter), so I have to agree with Google; they aren’t an MS Office killer. Now, they may say they aren’t trying to kill Office, but you know they would love to if they could. They can’t, so they say that isn’t their plan.

<

p>So what could replace Word? I did get a glimpse of an app that I think maybe can kill Microsoft Word. This was during Kevin Lynch’s keynote when he introduced Adobe’s Apollo runtime. He ran through a few apps that have been developed using Apollo and one of them was Buzzword by Virtual Ubiquity. Buzzword is a functional Web word processor that, well, feels like you are using a desktop app. (I should say it looks like it feels like that - since I have never used it.) It wasn’t a full demo, but Kevin showed how easy it is to move pictures and text around and manipulate lists. Anything 99% of users need Word for. You would swear by looking at it that it’s a desktop app. It is in a way. It has a wrapper that makes your computer think it is a desktop app, but it has all the collaboration ability of a web app. Totally killer. I couldn’t find a video of Kevin’s Web 2.0 Expo keynote, but here is a keynote from Apollo Camp that has a Buzzword demo by Lynch about 40% into it.

Personally, I use Textmate to write anything and everything. I’ll use Pages if I need a brochure or something and Google Docs if it is something I would have to email. I’m always a bit put out when someone sends me a .doc that forces me to open a big, clunky application to look at text. Buzzword will hopefully give us the collaborative power of Google Docs and the speed and feel of a desktop application.

From what I heard at the show, Apollo is in Alpha now, as is Buzzword. Apollo should be released this Fall and we should see a ton of Rich Internet Applications like Buzzword in 2008.