[ShadowAce]

I have a difficult time relying on an outside party for availability of my apps. I'll keep Office software local. Also--what if I'm in a meeting (or somewhere else) with no Net access?

[N3WBI3]

Google earth has a local install, one might imagine that there will also be a light weight local install for this. But the nice part is if it runs through a web browser it will be portable, 100% portable.

[r9etb]

I have a difficult time relying on an outside party for availability of my apps.

Not to mention availability of my data (Web storage).

[cloud8]

> ...what if I'm in a meeting (or somewhere else) with no Net access?

That's so 2002 ;-)

[defenderSD]

This looks like a giant step backwards into the mainframe era. People moved to PC's in the 1980's because they didn't want to be controlled by "the network", "the comm lines", and "the data center." They wanted their own hardware and storage devices so that they could run their own independent computer center. That is not going to change, no matter how fast and reliable the Internet becomes. People want to store their documents on their own hard drives and backup devices and not on a server somewhere. Rumors of the demise of the PC are greatly exaggerated.

[js1138]

I have a difficult time relying on an outside party for availability of my apps. I'll keep Office software local. Also--what if I'm in a meeting (or somewhere else) with no Net access?

Competent network apps synchronize local and server copies of data files. Windows Server does, so one would assume that anything claiming to be better than Windows would allow offline access to data and documents.

Of course a large, centralized database requires access to the network, but that's true regardless of the OS.