Web-based Applications

Those of you in the JPL Learning 2.0 training should already know about these, but I thought I'd share them with everybody.

A web-based application is an application that is accessed via a web browser over a network. Basically, you do not have to physically posses the software or any storage media when using web-apps. This can be especially helpful for those without floppy disks or flash drives.

I had a customer tonight who needed to print a document that she was typing, but she had already used her five free copies today. And having coins only, she was unable to use our value-add machines that were hewn out of solid iron during the Truman Administration (seriously, why can't they take change or debit cards in 2008?). I suggested that she use Zoho.

Zoho is an online office suite with web-based applications such as word processing, presentations, spreadsheets, etc. (Another similar option is Open Office, while I personally prefer Google Docs myself.) Either way, the whole process is very simple.

She was able to create a user name and password very quickly (almost at the speed of light compared to signing up for Yahoo mail by comparison), and opened a new document in Zoho Writer. She simply copied her document from Word and pasted it into Zoho, and then saved it. Though you can save to portable media such as floppies and flash drives, you can also save the documents to Zoho's server, and access them again by logging in on any computer (had she saved her document through Word on the T: drive, she would have to use that specific computer to access it again).

Anyway, the next time you're on the desk and it's slow, try exploring some of these different web-based applications. I think that they are a good option worth recommending to our customers.