The Second Press made a quick post yesterday about IT|Redux’s updated Web 2.0 database of applications. After checking it out, I have to say this is one of the finest lists I’ve seen.

It’s a fantastic list organized by type of application and lists some features & reviews of each. I highly recommend checking it out as there is an web based application to meet almost all needs.

From calculators to file managers, text editing, spreadsheets, photo editing and even video editing all on the web! Plus much more. Most offer free accounts and are well worth the checkout.

Google has announced Google Spreadsheets! It’s currently limited beta but I have high hopes for it. Google has Writely, an online word processing application and now a spreadsheet application. This is one step closer to Google Office.

I have yet to get my Google Spreadsheet invite, but I’ve got on the list. For more information check out this Sneak Peak at Google Spreadsheets.

If you can’t wait for Google Spreadsheets, check out iRows and ZoHo Sheet. They are both online spreadsheet applications that work very well and are available for sign-up today! I have accounts at each and it’s tough to say which is better, but both are excellent alternatives to Microsoft Excel.

I’ve taken Parallels for a test spin and I’m very impressed. VirtualPC was the best emulator around years ago and it still never worked very good. Now, with Parallels, you can run Windows (3.1, 3.11, 95, 98, Me, 2000, NT, XP, 2003), any Linux distribution, FreeBSD, Solaris, OS/2, eComStation, or MS-DOS while running OS X.

I installed and ran Windows 98 as it’s the only thing I had lying around. The install process was pretty simple and took forever. The long install is thanks to Microsoft though, not an issue with Parallels. Once installed, the speed that Windows 98 ran was extremely impressive! No delays when you try to open a folder. No ‘this blows’ attitude like I had with VirtualPC. It was smooth, fast and ran quite good.

I searched for a web based Microsoft Excel today and I found iRows. All the basics, none of the bloat or cost!!

Today was a snow day and I was told not to come into work but rather work from home. Great idea except I treat my home computer differently than my work computer. For one, I didn’t install Microsoft Office.

I’ve had Writely for Word documents for a while now and it’s just amazing. Upload Word files, make edits, export them again and it’s all good. So, I went looking for a web based Excel. That’s when I found iRows.

Recently I’ve been using a free service called Writely. Writely is a web based word processing application that is amazing.

Features include:

• Full WYSIWYG Editing (in browsers that support it)
• Import abilities for Microsoft Word (.doc), Rich Text (.rtf) OpenOffice (.odt, .sxw), HTML, Text (.txt)
• Export abilities for all the above and PDF
• Sharing abilities with anyone.
• Social editing so that more than one can edit the same document.
• Privacy controls.
• Ability to ‘Star’ important documents. (like Gmail)
• Beautiful Interface

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