Both of these companies use web-based applications to store and process content virtually. You can build a Word doc or an excel spreadsheet using Google Apps and you can create photo albums with the Live network. Technically, you don’t even need your own computer or software to create these documents – just use a public one. This is a great budget-friendly alternative than paying retail for various product suites, leading to a potential cost-effective strategy for smaller companies.

Open source has made this all possible: people are willing to share their knowledge (free of cost) to collectively build on a creator’s work. In turn, this allows other users to share their own work and in most cases free of charge as well!

With that all said and done, I came across a very interesting site recently which allows the user to run a computer right in their internet browser. This ‘computer’ includes 15 GB in online storage, 10 GB of email, internet browser, media players, and much more. See below for a screenshot:

Screenshot of Ghost computer

As a functional storage medium, the site gives you the freedom to leave that bulky USB flash drive at home and the flexibility to retrieve content from any internet-connected machine. Further, it acts as a proxy and may allow access content which may have been blocked through website filters (I.e. YouTube videos, Flickr photos, and so on).

Give it a try and let me know what you think.