Apple's Office Suite to the Web?

With MacWorld coming up the rumors are rife.  One going around that has significance to solo and small firm lawyers is the possibillty that Apple's Office Suite (iWork) is going to become a web-based application. This would be supper for solo and small firm lawyers.  Apple's iWork suite contains Pages, Numbers, and Keynote.  Pages is very clean and intuitive wordprocessor.  It will save documents in Microsoft's ".doc" format (you use the File>Export feature), so there is no problem with electronic filing.  Numbers is more spreadsheet than any lawyer typically needs.  Keynote is the best presentation software out there - it makes PowerPoint look so 2004.

If you have used Google Docs, you know the basic routine.  The software doesn't reside on your computer but off "in the cloud" of the Internet.  You access it through your Web Browser.  Particularly if you are collaborating or moving between different offices, this has some great advantages.  The biggest drawback with Google Docs is simply that it hasn't had the power and flexibilitiy of Microsoft Office.  Apple could be talking about melding a suite with the power and flexibility of Office with the ease of access and collaboration of Google Docs.

It sounds like Apple would be making it part of the MobileMe online offering.  It will be interesting to see if there is an additional cost for accessing iWorks and how iWorks actually translates into a "Cloud Computing" application.  We will know soon!

- Peter H. Berge

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