Online App Boost

As you might expect after the Office 2.0 Conference, news from the world of Software as a Service (SaaS) has been bouncing around lately. Whether any of the products hyped recently are ready for production remains a key argument depending on the size of your business.

Now with an endorsement from Capgemini, the humble little Google applications recent incarnation into Google Apps Premier Edition claims to be ready for enterprise rollout. Personally, I don't think many enterprises will fall for that, even with Capgemini's recommendation. However, this new push does tell me Google's Apps have reached a high level of stability or they wouldn't even make the enterprise claim. Not quite good enough for a major international corporation may be more than good enough for your small business.

Zoho, the free personal service with their own applications like word processor, spreadsheet, online presentations, and web conferencing (as well as another 10 apps) now has a business service running as a beta test. Still free as a beta, it will cost something when it rolls out officially. Many small businesses feel the free Zoho applications provide enough features and collaboration for their use. Others feel Zoho Projects and Zoho CRM tools are worth paying for already.

Personally, my three year old PC running Windows XP is getting flakier and flakier. I'm surprised it's gone three years without a wipe and reinstallation, but I run suspect programs on other systems. But I'm really considering making some Linux variant my primary workstation and keeping XP for a few specialized needs, rather than vice versa. Part of this switch will be moving more of my data online to HyperOffice and Google Mail and others like Zoho for testing. Any comments from those who have made that jump? Good and bad news welcomed.

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