John Dvorak is hit-or-miss in his articles. This one's a hit, and articulates my bewilderment at the idea of online office apps like Google Office. Even if consumers used them, I can't imagine any business doing so.*

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1895,2176192,00.asp

Excerpts:

I only use Google docs," a friend of mine told me. "It's as good as Word and easier to share files."

Easier to share files? So how hard is it to attach a doc file to an e-mail anyway? Cripes.

To analyze the illogic of certain trends, I like to employ a trick I call the "reverse timeline." . . . You can image the advertising push. "Now control your own data!" "Faster processing power now." "Cheaper!" "Everything at your fingertips." "No need to worry about network outages."

* Except, possibly, that they'd purchase a version from Google hosted on their own business servers, and be able to store all corporate documents. Of course, this can be done today, through thin clients, using Microsoft or Linux technologies.