Thing #18 Open Access to Documents

I have previously explored Googledocs and found many advantages to using it over Microsoft Office.  I plan to use Open Office more this year and compare them over time.  The biggest advantage of using Googledocs and Open Office is the accessibility.  I work on my home computer and on my laptop.  Instead of saving documents to my computer and then emailing them to myself, or saving to a flashdrive that I have to be able to locate, I can access my documents from any computer.  I have encouraged my students to use it at home, so they do not have to worry about accessing their email from school in order to print out a document.  Googledocs, though not as familiar and comfortable as Microsoft Office, provides access.  In today's world, ease of access can make the difference in meeting a deadline or having needed information prepared for a meeting.  Most of the time, I use Microsoft Office, but the more I work at home, the more advantages I find to using Googledocs.  Familiarity or access: you decide which you need the most.