Microsoft SkyDrive WebApps

This is just a short review of the Microsoft SkyDrive WebApps, specifically, OneNote and Word. I have not really used any of the other apps, though I think I have created one spreadsheet in Excel. Before going on, I want to say that I have fairly extensive experiences with Microsoft Office, having taken classes on both Excel and Access and having used and supported Office for around 15 years.

In addition, I have been using OneNote on Windows Live SkyDrive for more than a year now. I like being able to access documents on my phone, which runs Windows Phone 7. I really enjoy being able to write a document on my PC and then access it on my phone. I use this to copy notes into OneNote so that I can then consult it on my phone when I am working on a client's PC. I keep hoping that after our upcoming shift to Exchange Server, we will be able to set up SharePoint so that we can access install and repair documents from our phones. Unfortunately, I think I am the only one at work using Windows Phone, so I am not sure if that will be a priority.

I am even writing this post in Word on SkyDrive and I am experiencing the problems of SkyDrive. The biggest problem is lag. It is really easy to get several sentences ahead of what you see on the screen. Recently, while typing, I noticed that the screen seemed to refresh and I would lose 3 - 5 letters of what I had been typing. I eliminated this by closing the browser tab that had Facebook open.

One of the nice features of SkyDrive is the ability to access your documents from any PC. I have used this feature extensively, so I have worked on SkyDrive from home, with my broadband connection, from work, and even from public WiFI connections.

I just experienced this problem in the sentence above. I typed "even from public" and what came up on screen was "evenblic" When it works perfectly, it is okay, but sometimes it is all but unusable. Now, I have noticed this problem on Windows XP, as well as Windows 7 and even Windows 8.

So, I do not know if I could ever recommend the SkyDrive apps, at least Word and OneNote. I love the convenience, but they are not really ready for prime time.