Don’t you just love that illustration? I think it says so much. It’s from an article in The Economist about Microsoft and the new threat from emerging Web 2.0 products.I mean, who wants to use the calendar in Outlook, when Google Calendar was just released. In fact, who wants to use Outlook at all, with an online alternative such as GMail? And as for writing documents I, for one, prefer Writely over Word.

It’s great with all these Web 2.0 applications with tools to help with all aspects of our life – like lists & tasks, calenders, project management – and of course, web based word processing. I like the idea of web based word processors, like Writely. I have a laptop, a computer in my bedroom, and a computer at work – and I like the fact that I can just sit down and edit my documents without thinking about where they are physically located.

Or, 24 ways that is. If you’re were sleeping through december month, or maybe too busy handling your mother-in-law, you might have missed 24ways, the ajax/web2.0 advent calendar. The idea is simple; every day they would release a new ajax/web related article. The articles are written by different authors, who are probably considered experts in their field. It recently struck me how ingenious this is from a marketing point of view.