My summertime Office anywhere: Office Web Apps + SkyDrive

Summer took the slow road to Seattle but it's finally here, and the last thing I want is to be trapped in an indoor office. So I'm using Office Web Apps with Windows Live SkyDrive to check email, open and edit files, and otherwise keep tabs on myriad details from wherever I happen to be, whether that's on a friend's deck in my bare feet with a tall frozen drink beside me or hanging out at a local cafe.

Judging from last week's tweets on Did You Know (#join2010), customers in the "Real Life Stories" program are enjoying similar freedoms "in the cloud." In their own words:

•  "With Office 2010 Web Apps and SkyDrive I have total flexibility to access my content from anywhere." (Roxanne Rukowicz, owner of a small business)
•  "I can save all my docs to SkyDrive. Now I don't even have to carry a laptop to access my work." (Sterling Morris, a student)

Of course I have Office on my laptop, but I'm not using it to edit this post right now. I drafted this earlier in Word, saved it to one of my SkyDrive folders, and used the Word Web App with Internet Explorer to access and edit it on my friend's machine without reopening Word. Being able to access my content whenever and wherever I want comes in mighty handy when I'm roaming.

For more on the Office Web Apps + SkyDrive combo, check out our posts from Doug Thomas (an Office Casual video) and Crabby, and Jason Moore's detailed post from Windows Live.  

As for me, I'll upload this final version to SkyDrive now. Time for a walk to the beach.

Holly Thomas

PS: I drafted this late last week,when it was in fact Summer in Seattle, in the 90s downtown, 80s up here. Today however, it's back to long pants and grey skies. Here's hoping our four-day sunny hot spell was the foretaste, not the feast.