Welcome to Web 2.0

Micheal Robertson writes
"Bye Bye Microsoft Word, Hello ajaxWrite"
What if there was alternative for Microsoft Word that would install and open in 6 seconds, read and write Microsoft Word .doc files and run on Macintosh, Microsoft Windows or Linux computers? And oh yeah, it was FREE so consumers didn't have to pay $499 for Microsoft Office. I'm excited to announce that day is here....

The service looks really cool from the images on his website, but there is a slight problem here. You can't use the service and not because it is in alpha/beta, but because the service is temporarily not available.

This is a common problem with most of the Web 2.0 services and even google sometimes give you a nice message to hide this fact.

Can someone seriously use these online applications for any important work if you face such problems? Although, with application on your PC, you can fix the problem because you own the software. But here, you are completely stuffed if there are some issues with the service provider.

I can see some excuses for work in the near future:
"Sir, I am unable to complete my work because..."
- the "ajaxWrite" application was down because of the digg/slashdot effect.
- the company behind my Word application was upgrading their servers. blah blah.

Although some of the services provided are excellent but you just can't replace the rich client experience on your desktop. Welcome to the real world.