Software as a Service or another way to avoid paying Microsoft for products....

Hello Again,

Software as a Service - idea good; execution bad. Truly, I feel like the Geico Caveman (Cavewoman) using Software as a service in lieu of my Enterprise edition Word 2007 with full functionality, ancillary support and every possible bell and whistle. This reminds me of someone using Microsoft Works instead of Office. Sure you can create a document, spreadsheet etc. but the full set of tools is always in the other version.

Take for instance Google Docs - there is a presentation component which mimics PowerPoint. Being a PowerPoint junkie since version 4.0 - I am dating myself here and prior to that using Freelance Graphics since the early nineties - now in terms of technology I am old - I enjoy being able to seamlessly integrate. If I was looking for a place to create presentations and not have to use another software package then this would be great. However, the integration back into PowerPoint from Google is not seamless and in fact, requires recreation at times. I had issues having the templates not mesh and then it caused a little extra work. In a pinch, I will consider using this but in my everyday practice, I have full versions of the desired applications on my computers and prefer to have full functionality. With GE dropping Microsoft Applications all together in favor of this technology, I think it is a financial decision that may prove to be shortsighted and political in nature. But then again, I question GE often after knowing how they treated a friend of mine who was an employee...

More later...
CH