As more people use computers on a daily basis, some are beginning to truly use the internet to their advantage, and not just for email, Facebook, or checking the latest news. Some users are using modern websites to backup their data, syncronize files between computers, and even replace desktop programs with web-based applications that they can access from anywhere.

“I use Google for all of my Word documents most of the time, like all of the Microsoft Office projects I have to work on at home and in school, I just work on them from [Google’s websites], so I can work on them from wherever. Sometimes, I feel more confident in using the program itself from Microsoft on my computers, then I’ll upload it to Google, then when I come here, I do the same thing,” says Douglas Mutai, a second-year marketing student.

Web-based applications, such as Google Docs, or G-Mail, operate completely on Google’s massive servers across the world, allowing anyone with an internet connection from anywhere, which is most people now, to access and modify common file formats.

“I use it when I’m at a computer that doesn’t have Office on it, for example. Google is really good for viewing Excel spreadsheets and Word documents. Like, with an iPod Touch for example,” says Neil Smith, a circulation assistance in the library at Lethbridge College, who also helps out in the Computer Commons.

Using services like Carbonite.com or GetDropBox.com to automatically backup and sync files over the internet and across different computers can be a huge benefit to those who don’t want to worry about manually creating backups or remembering to email themselves important documents.

“While there are some early adopters and some other pockets of people using these tools, we (technology enthusiasts) are still in the minority. When you put this in the context of blogging being around since 1999-2000 we need to be honest that our adoption rates with technology are relatively slow,” says Dwayne Harapnuik, educational technology manager at Lethbridge College.

For the paranoid types, keeping data stored in multiple locations is usually the way to go.

“Web based stuff is available from anywhere on anything (Mac, pc, pda,
etc.), which makes it is very accessible,” says Dean Johnson, manager of network services at Lethbridge College.

Johnson also suggests keeping a backup of your data somewhere you can access it that doesn’t require an internet connection.

Harapnuik says that that internet-based backup services are the safest place for data, but until high-speed wireless internet is accessible anywhere, it’s really only useful as a backup.

“We believe the Web/Cloud is the safest place for our data. It is good to have a copy of your content on the LAN as a backup to web access–but really only a backup. Once 3G, 4G and/or WiMax networks take off you will have wireless access from any area of an urban centre,” says Harapnuik.

“There are a lot of cloud (aka web-based) applications being used for maintaining documents across multiple computers,” says Smith.

Smith says that one of the issues for him about Google Docs is he doesn’t feel it’s matured enough where it’s useful for mainstream purposes.

“[Google Docs] hasn’t really matured to the point that it’s become useful for mainstream applications,” says Smith. “I’d imagine it’s probably very good for group projects and stuff like that. It allows people to collaborate really easily.”

Originally posted 2009-03-29 19:19:37. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

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