Nine Hot Consumer Technologies You Can't Ignore
Like it or not, these much-discussed technologies are going to have a significant impact on your IT department.
Consumer Web Apps
Look! Your customer list is on Google Base!
ThinkFree.com offers office suites online.
Web-based apps for consumers are nothing new, but in the past they were often too cumbersome or feature-starved to be valid competition for a desktop app. But for most people, Microsoft Office hit a feature wall years ago, and Web apps continued to improve. Not only are the online spreadsheets and word processors better than ever, but consumers are much more comfortable with the idea of using software that exists soley in a Web browser. (Thanks Google and Yahoo.) And the Web apps often come bundled with features—such as convenient file sharing, remotely accessible storage and solid Office compatibility—that make them pretty attractive. And for the moment, at least, many of them are free. Given that an upgrade to Office 2007 starts at more than $200 and climbs rapidly, free is going to look pretty good to a lot of people.
Why You Should Care: "Hey Bob, let's collaborate on that spreadsheet." "Sure Jill, let me talk to IT about how we can make it sharable so you can access it from your home office." "Hey, forget them. That'll take weeks. I just found this great site called ThinkFree.com. We can be sharing a spreadsheet in minutes." Get the picture?
