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Besides, they already have a version of Office that runs on iOS and Android or anything else with a modern web-browser, it is called Office Live. Not that I would use it, but MS Office followers can.

They're more likely to declare that ARM-based platforms are low-end cloud devices, and advise people who want Office on it to buy a sub to Office Live. http://www.officelive.com/en-us/

That isn't necessarily a bad thing, but the more I read about Windows 8, the more I think it's a step in Microsoft's eventual plan to remove the ability to run arbitrary code at all on the OS. They look at what Apple has with iOS, and want the same for their own software. I would prefer to be able to run my own code on my own system, but most users don't really care, they just want something that works. It's a lot easier for Microsoft to only have to write a browser that follows standards (insert joke about them taking 17 years and counting) for each platform, and then simply design their programs to follow those web standards than it is for them to cross-compile their programs and redesign their UIs for multiple platforms and architectures. Truthfully, all Win8 needs to be productive on a tablet is a decent HTML5-capable browser and an input method that doesn't make you want to pull your hair out.

Then you must know about the shops on Hennepin, Lyndale, Nicolet Mall, Lake St, and Lagoon. You don't know about all the shops on these streets? Or on Excelsior in St Louis Park? Well perhaps driving around blind you miss them, me I ride my bike in the area, it the area I live in too. Heck, you don't know Muddy Waters? Or Penn Cycle? Loon Grocery? Those are just the ones my bad memory can come up with right now. Oh and the Wedge, of which I am a member.

You go downtown and you hardly can find any independent places, it's chains everywhere, and lest we not forget how awful the suburbs are!

I don't go downtown much but when I do more than likely I'm going to Natcam, National Camera Exchange. With 6 stores in the Twin Cities it's huge. NOT!!!

I really don't know anything about your business statistics...maybe they're a sign that Europe is following in our footsteps, which is sad, but what I'm talking about is only what I see when I walk down the street right now.

They're not my statistics they're the European Commission's or someone else's. As for walking I don't walk much, I ride my bike more.

Instead you've got an offie on every corner, with chippy or a kebab shop next to it, bakeries, grocers, butchers, you name it... We just don't get that here. Hardly saying it's perfect, but it's one of the biggest motivators for me to want leave this awful city and move over there!

While we don't have as many shops such as bakeries here as Germany had when I was there we do have them. Actually that is something I loved about it there. There are 2 big motivators for to leave, well three, here. One, it's too far away from either the Atlantic or Pacific. Two, the growing season is too short, at least without a greenhouse. And the third reason is I had to leave close friends when I moved up here. Normally I don't have trouble meeting new people but here I have. One person I did meet, born and raised in MN, told me that instead of the motto saying "Minnesota Nice" it should be "Minnesota Ice". Maybe it's just where I've been but I've had bad luck meeting people here, which is why I now spend hours online daily and don't get out much any more.

Falcon

Open Atrium is a multipurpose intranet/project management system built with the open source CMS Drupal. It's easy on the eyes and since it's just a fancy distribution of Drupal it can potentially be extended in almost any direction. Worth a look, sounds like it could address all your needs.

But then again it also sounds like Microsoft Office Live Workspace could also meet your needs. I'm not sure how complicated you want to get.

Bejeweled. MS Word. MSN Messenger.

isn't caused by running familiar apps slowly, it's caused by being forced into inferior and unfamiliar facsimiles.

You could make that case about Bejeweled -- the official web version is deliberately crippled compared to the desktop version. However, the other two are very serious attempts by Microsoft to expose that functionality online. And I haven't covered alternatives -- Meebo and Google Docs come to mind.

Maybe the traditional office will die out soon in favor of an online version such as Office Live, but in general MS Word is here to stay ... not going away anytime soon.

For example, there was a small business daycare that I know of that had Open Office installed on their work computers. Keep in mind that OO is free ... no cost. Still, the owners hated it so much, they just weren't used to it and got frustrated enough that even in these tough economic times, they went out and forked over the cash for a copy of MS Word. Of course that's sad, but it happens every day with non-techies.

MS Word dying is simply wishful thinking ... but it's not reality.

Funnily enough Microsoft office already has this, with Office Live. I have Open from Office Live and Save to Office Live in my file menu.

Xbox

The important word was sells not software. He likes the fact that after a transaction with Microsoft, their employees have no ongoing access to what you bought.

OK, how about this one: Office Live

Oh, yeah, skydrive...
but isn't that a bit like Office Live
but isn't that a bit like Live Mesh

Can anyone say "Confused Product Strategy" three time backwards?

Shift the blame for the infection to the user, away from the system. That's all UAC is about.

Yes, and once everybody declares Vista too difficult to use and administer, Microsoft will have an alternative for you.

Since I wrote that essay last year, Office Live has become real(-ish).

Another difference is that Office live is Windows only. It works with Mozilla, but locks out Linux If the message is correct, the tool does not work on OS X either
I have no idea what functionality in a web based app gets blocked due to the browser running on an unsupported platform!

microsoft just added support for online document sharing with a little add-in for office. 500 mb space. of course you still need to have a copy of office whereas with google apps they're free.

http://workspace.officelive.com/

And meanwhile, Microsoft gives away domain names (and some web space, too) for free: http://www.officelive.com/

• A professional Web site, expertly hosted by Microsoft
• A secure online workspace for organizing and managing customer and business information
• A complete set of tools for managing time, tasks, projects, and company data that integrates with your existing Microsoft Office programs