Ten years ago, who knew that there would be an office suite package that you can use on your web browser. But of course back then, the internet was used mainly to search for information - and still is. And though Internet Explorer, Netscape Navigator, Firefox, and others have made terrific advances in expanding their capabilities - web browsers are still very limited in its ability to create feature rich applications that you can create for your desktop ... or are they?
New technologies (like ASP.NET) and the use of advanced techniques (like AJAX) have made it possible to create web applications that actually behave like desktop applications, which has paved the way for all kinds of possibilities on web that were not imaginable before ... like web-based office suites.
I'm not talking about just online calendars and contact managers - there's a whole gob of those; I'm talking about web applications that provide the ability to create letters, spreadsheets, newsletters, brochures, etc. like you can in Microsoft Office. Googling the keyword "microsoft office alternatives web-based" will give a bunch of websites where you can research.
The one that I like the most so far is gOffice, that promises Microsoft Word import/export features in the near future; but for now, I love being able to produce the high quality PDFs from it. It also has a spreadsheet and desktop publishing programs that do the same, with other features coming soon. Other web applications, like ajaxWrite and Writely, only give you word processing capabilities. The fact the all of these offerings are FREE isn't bad, either.
But are web-based office suites good enough to replace old reliable desktop applications like Microsoft Office?" It's too soon to tell; but in order for them to a major player, there are still a lot of web browser limitations to overcome in order to provide anywhere near the amount of features that you'll find in Microsoft Office 2007. All the same, I applaud the progress we've made in creating feature rich web applications; and it'll be interesting to see how they can go in the future.