iSean

i recently came across a web-based word processor. it’s located at writely.com and is currently in beta testing. i fiddled around with it the other day and i was impressed. now, don’t get me wrong, this thing is far, far from MS Word. however, it can open Word files and it can save files to the Word format. but, that’s not what impressed me the most. the most impressive thing is that this is the first application software online that hasn’t felt like it’s online.

writely is quick to respond to commands and tasks. as i play with writely, i am constantly thinking about how web 2.0 is going to differ from web 1.0 that most of us use most of the time. this application, which is online, appears to be a part of the future of the web. writely appears to be a slimmed down version of MS Word that a user can access from anywhere they have internet access. i worked on a document 2 weeks ago, and here i just logged in and there’s my file. exactly as i left it. and, something Word can’t do — save as PDF. Mac users have had this for a long time now, but this is a nice addition to word processing on the PC side of the aisle. this thing has support for RTF and can even do find and replace. you can insert color-coded comments. add table functions . . . and, even use this to write and publish blog entries.

what’s the implication for schools? i know that my own kids do not need to be learning MS Word in elementary school. why not have the school save a lot of money and use something like writely where the kids can get the gist of using a word processor while the schools save tons and tons of money? i don’t know what this will eventually cost, but it’s free right now. my guess is that there will always be a free version and that some users will choose to upgrade to a paid version for increased functionality. in any regard, this is something work keeping an eye on.