I sure hope the release of Michael Robertson’s so-called disruptive AJAXwrite online wordprocessor will not continue to fuel this terrible trend of non game changing online apps. Let’s stop smoking the web apps weed for a minute and realize that this stuff all requires internet. It’s the one major Achille’s heel for every online-only application.

And I don’t really need to cover the features and functionalities of AJAXwrite when I’ve already covered Writely. AJAXwrite does allow saving as a PDF file and doesn’t require registering or login, but there are more cons than pros if you step outside your own blazing broadband connection and think about the real world.

Will this work on an airplane? Most flights, no. Despite a few airlines offering internet access most still don’t. So for business people wanting to write letters will Writely, AJAXwrite and the rest of the online wordprocessor apps help? No.

Will this work in the car/bus/train? Probably not. If you have an EV-DO card, if you have EV-DO service and if you are in an area that has EV-DO coverage, yes, you can use the online wordprocessors. Perhaps also if you can use your smartphone or PDA with some sort of wireless / Bluetooth to cobble internet onto your laptop.

Doing wordprocessing in a tiny PDA window, though, is a non-starter for those of us with lousy eyesight. Thumbs down big time on PDA online or offline wordprocessing. It’s a pretty weak user experience. I have used a Pocket PC for years and continue to use every day, but not for wordprocesing, for contact management, short notes and encrypted password management (which syncs with my desktop). Will UMPC be better for wordprocessing? Yes, I think the bigger screen will make wordprocessing there a more viable option, but you add the frame of the browser and you still lose more space. Tinier screen, less workspace? Not optimal experience.

Everybody’s eyesight goes to crap eventually. And staring at some ultra tiny screen trying to do wordprocessing is a free promotion for Lasik eye surgery.

Will online wordprocessors work in a client or prospective client’s home/office? Unless they have open, unsecured WiFi or let you use their computer to make your notes, forget about it. I can just see the sales pitch: “I need to make notes of this conversation in AJAXwrite, can I tap into your internet connection?”

What about the 40%+ of the internet stilll not on broadband? Please tell these people in the boonies suffering more and more daily with their dialup-only access and computers already slowed to a crawl with so many things running (virus protectors, email, browser, anti-spyware, anti-phishing, toolbars, extensions, etc) that they need to muck around with some online only app when working in a wordprocessor offline is faster. They will laugh at the concept.

And as I write this, the AJAXwrite interface won’t even load, see photo above. Yeah, this is a real Word killer.

AJAX should be used like Flash — sparingly
AJAX isn’t the answer for everything, just like most Flash-only apps/sites. Nor will it ever be until every home has broadband internet where it’s just as fast to do work online as it is off and the servers powering apps like AJAXwrite can scale. And of course the minute you go online you have a whole host of applications you need to run that you don’t need to run if you aren’t connected.

Microsoft Word is a threat to itself
Microsoft Word might be threatened, but not by some online AJAXy app, it will be threatened by its own bloat and pricing. Openoffice can do a lot of what Office can do — for free — but it doesn’t do everything and there will be people who see $499 as a tax writeoff and making it easier than having to be the support team for the employees. Just has Photoshop hasn’t been crippled financially by GIMP, it isn’t necessarily a guarantee that free will trump commercial software.

I hope the version in Office 2007 will leave a smaller memory footprint, smaller install size, smaller number of features (I don’t need dozens of language support) and let me easily add what I want to do separately. Go cafeteria style and let me build my own Word that is as sleek and smooth as a gazelle or as slow and deliberate as a turtle.

Michael Robertson’s poll
I just looked at Robertson’s homepage poll which had 75% people agreeing with his Bye Bye Word, hello AJAXwrite post. I voted “disagree” and that changed to 73%, so get on over there and register your vote if you honestly believe or not online wordprocessors like AJAXwrite or Writely will replace Word (offline wordprocessors). Obviously a lot of people haven’t voted if my one lone vote would drop the poll two percentage points.

(And just before pushing publish and the agree percentage is down to 66%, so more people using common sense instead of being blinded by the AJAX flu have voted)

Save me time, save me money
I want tools that save me time and help me be more productive in home and business, not more frustrated because they can’t be used without quality internet access. If your tool saves me time, money or both, my curiosity is piqued.

In the meantime, online apps like AJAXwrite saying goodbye to an established offline wordprocessor like Word is like saying goodbye to air. Totally non-non-non disruptive.

Did this post make you go hmm?

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