One of my favorite agendas in these pages is to encourage you to start using web services rather than desktop applications to take care of day-to-day chores like word processing, and working with digital pictures and videos. 

I often cheerlead the virtues of Google Docs and Zoho as free and pervasive substitutes for large and expensive applications like Microsoft Office.

Image by: Yodel Anecdotal

Well it seems, ReadWriteWeb last week conducted a survey of their readers to find out what they use as a word processor and found that 48% still use Microsoft Office and the largest group that used an online word processor was 17% using Google Docs.

Also unsettling in the RWW survey was that compared to the same survey last year, Google Docs gained ground not against Microsoft Office but instead from other online services like Zoho.  Microsoft Office actually increased in usage from 46% last year to 48% this year.

Admittedly online surveys are unscientific and not especially accurate, but RWW’s readers tend to be tech savvy and early adopters so it would seem that use of online services to replace desktop services for applications like word processors and spreadsheets still has a long way to go.

This next year will be interesting to watch as Google Docs and the Zoho suite mature and Adobe has entered the online word processor space with Buzzword and browsers like the recently introduced Chrome aim specifically at facilitating the use of web services by making the experience as positive as possible.

Here at EnquiringMimes we won’t be backpedaling on our belief that using web services is the best and most productive way to work.

To remind you of compelling reasons for using web applications, here are a few:

• No application need to be installed on your computer
• You always have the latest version, someone else maintains your applications for you.
• When you save a document at work, it’s accessible when you get home without having to copy to a thumb drive.
• You don’t have to worry about disk crashes, your documents are automatically backed up for you — you don’t have to be your own IT department.