Southeastern Connecticut -Richard Thewissen Realtor, Ct Notary Public

The ship is burning... what you burned the ship????

Richard Thewissen (ERA Realty Pros) — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 17:54:20 -0500

Ok I have a story to tell. Ok I want to describe a story that actually happened. I can't remember the exact events nor can I tell you the main characters. But the Story has a great message. I Promise!

An army crossed the English Channel to wage war (I believe From France to England), Despite having less men than their opponent, the leader ordered his officers to burn all of their ships (without their men knowing about it). The ordinary soldiers were not too thrilles seeing their only methor of escaping should they need to. The leader then addressed his men and stated that there is only one way to live and that's through victory.

They won.

Sometimes, you have to eliminate all options but one. Fight hard because there is no turning back. You might be surprised with the results.

Rich T.

House For Sale Westerly RI

Richard Thewissen (ERA Realty Pros) — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 23:38:48 -0500

Photo Gallery

Description

Newly remodeled home for sale. Within walking distance to downtown Westerly, Wilcox Park, Westerly Library. Easy Access to I95. New Roof, Windows,Vynil siding, porch, furnace..and many more. Call for additional information.

Features

Bedrooms:	3
Bathrooms:	1
Year Built:	1900
Lot Size:	0.11 AC
School District:	Westerly School District
Square Footage:	881
Agent Name:	Richard Thewissen
Broker:	ERA REALTY PROs
MLS #:	853909

Location

174 High Street Westerly RI 02891

vFlyer Id: 1759270

Homes For Sale in RI

Richard Thewissen (ERA Realty Pros) — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 22:49:28 -0500

Help your neighbor, you might be surprised.

Richard Thewissen (ERA Realty Pros) — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 19:04:01 -0500

I had a voice message from a neighbor today and the message sounded urgent. Not knowing what to expect, I called them. I found out that they were in the process of vacating their rental and was looking to attempt to do a yard sale. they informed me that the owners would not let them hold a yard sale, so they were asking if it would be ok for them to use my yard.

It was a good thing that just yesterday I mowed the grass. I had no problem with having them use my front yard. they thanked me, we exchanged stories... next thing you know I mentionede that we have a rental listing, they want to see it, and I have an appointment next monday to show the rental ( which we just picked up this monday). It looks like it will be a great fit and we would have helped 2 families.

Like i said, it never hurt to help people out from time to time :)

Rich T.

Cut, copy, paste

Richard Thewissen (ERA Realty Pros) — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 20:25:32 -0500

Talking to a fellow Realtor, I mentioned a little trick that I often use when I copy information from a particular web site.

If you want to strip the extra stuff ( like tables, font sizes or color ), when you first copy the content, open up notepad and paste the clipboard content to it.

Now you have just the characters. you will then select all of the information and copy it back to the clipboard.

Final is to paste the information to the final application ( like a form on a web site).

If you were to copy the original information into say a Word file, Word knows enough to keep all of the formating information. that's why notepad is still a good application to use.

Rich T.

5 Tips when Creating Benner Ads

Richard Thewissen (ERA Realty Pros) — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 17:50:14 -0500

Web Banner Tip #1 - Nothing beats a good eye-catching punch line

When thinking of the copy for a banner; you need to spend a lot of time in creating a catchy phrase, something that will arouse the interest of the viewers and entice them to click on the banner. The punch line should be a small phrase, just a few words and should be visually appealing (correct usage of colors and fonts).

Web Banner Tip #2 - Good copy

A successful banner has excellent copy. Be sure to spend ample time thinking about what would interest the surfer. Another rule of thumb for good copy is to keep it short and simple. The text should support the banner punch line and should be informative and practical, making the viewer curious or bringing out a smile. Preferably, the copy should end with the same catchy phrase as on your web site unless the banner punch line is the same.

Web Banner Tip #3 - Relevant content in banners - not XXX

Make sure that the pictures displayed in the banner are relevant to the products/services you are offering on your site. A woman in a skimpy bikini would surely attract the attention of male surfers and get a click but, if your site sells electronic goods, the visitor is sure to leave your site before making a purchase. You, thus, end up with high-click thrus and negligible sales.

Web Banner Tip #4 - Including logo and web site URL in banners

If your ad campaign is a brand building exercise, it is advisable to include BOTH the logo and the web site address in the banner. For other types of banners, you might like to include the two, but make sure that they don't dilute the banner punch line or the copy. In such cases, it's best to keep the logo and the URL together either on the right or the left side of the banner. The logo should be made small and the URL can be displayed in a very small font size.

Web Banner Tip #5 - Clichés work!

Statistics show that the best call to action on a web banner is the trite phrase "Click here". Its very presence increases the click-thru rate. The phrase should be displayed long enough (2-3 seconds), preferably in the last frame of an animated banner and can itself be animated - made to blink or change color.

keeping a secret a secret - The Art of Password Security

Richard Thewissen (ERA Realty Pros) — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 13:27:07 -0500

I am currently studying to take a computer certification that is geared for security. With all the internet based accounts we have, we often feel that we should use something that we can remember. Nothing wrong with that.

However, May I suggest that you use different characters to make it harder to crack. For example lets say that you want to use your pats name: dog

Well for starters, it's a little too short.

Common rule 1: The password must be at least 8 characters long

We need to come up with 5 extra characters. we decide to modify it to: myolddog = 8 characters long

Common rule 2: use some upper case characters

We need to use capital letters for some of our letters. believe it or not the comuter has different value (ok we will use number values) the letter "a" is represented with a numerical value that is different than the letter "A"

or "a" does not equal "A"

Our Next modification results in: MyOldDog

Common rule 3: Use numbers.

This one is simple enough to follow. Our password is now modified to look like: My01dD0g

As you can tell we subsitiuted the number 0 for the letter o and the number 1 for the letter l

So far we have made our password much harder to crack we have met all of the rules above.

Common Rule 4: Use special characters

What are special characters? the following are examples of special characters: !@#$%^&*()

Well I really like our password so far, I think I will just include a special character to it.

Final version: My0ldD0g!

As you can see, the password is still relatively simple to remember. but what you just did is make your password almost impossible to crack.

Common rule 5: Change your password frequently

Programs out there exists which can automatically generate random characters to crack your password (called brute force attack) by changing your password from time to time, you are ensuring that your passwords are safe (for now).

With identity theft rising, it helps to take these standard practice to heart.

Thanks for Reading this post :)

Rich T.

notebook slow? Try adding more RAM!!!

Richard Thewissen (ERA Realty Pros) — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 19:24:17 -0500

I recently helped a fellow Realtor with a problem she had with her notebook. In a nutshell, it was very very slow.

She had a brand new notebook with the latest Microsoft OS (Windows Vista). The only thing I saw that was a problem was the size of RAM, it only has 512MB!!

With the vista OS, you need at least twice that amount 515Mb X 2 = 1,000 Mb = 1 GB). I recommended that since her notebook has only 2 slots for the memory chip,she should get two 1Gb memory modules for a grand total of 2 Gb.

Several weeks later, she finally bought the memory and it only took me a few minutes to install it. The results was like night and day! The notebook started faster, and applications came up almost instantly. For what little she spent on the RAM, she more than made it back with the increased productivity.

Do yourself a favor and look at the mcahine that you are glued to, day in and day out. If you are running vista, see if you need to have and upgrade to 2 gb!

With vista, just left click on start, right click on Computer, then left click on properties, you should get a window that has a lot of incormation about your machine, including the amount of RAM it has.

Rich T.

Easy Banner Add Creation Program

Richard Thewissen (ERA Realty Pros) — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 11:01:56 -0500

I recently tested an application called Banner Designer Pro.

Its a program that allows you to easily create banner ads for the internet, without needing to know anything about flash or html.

I thought that the application has plenty of power for a beginner, or but if you already know photoshop and FLASH, this tool is not for you.

Web Link: http://www.bannerdesignerpro.com

download it and give it a try. I plan on buying and using it asap!

The Power of Three!

Richard Thewissen (ERA Realty Pros) — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 20:15:05 -0500

You Deserve More!

(Picture of Rich, Karen, and Lisa)

To compete effectively in today's ever changing real estate market; you will greatly benefit by having more than one real estate agent to service your needs. Rich Thewissen, Karen Van Seters, and Lisa Lamb are the team that you are looking for to achieve that goal.

The benefits of having Three Realtors on your side:

A team of Realtors to service your account will result in a more efficient and smooth transaction process.

We provide a balanced support in an ever changing market, through our diverse yet complementing skill sets.

We offer a mature and time tested marketing program that is second to none.

Effective communication is a critical and essential to any successful business activity. We guarantee that you will receive regular reports to aid you in making an informed financially sound decision.

Karen, Lisa, Rich

The VLT Team, We make results happen

Visit us at: http://www.sectlisting.com

Experts say that the Fed interest rate cuts will do little to help existing mortgages

Richard Thewissen (ERA Realty Pros) — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 10:08:38 -0500

Listening to all the news about the recent Federal Reserve Rate Cuts (by half a point) you get the usual pros and cons.

The con side is still warning that despite the generous interest rate cuts,

Fixed mortgage rates would not be effected
APR rates would slightly go down
Same with the credit card rates, only slightly effected

and the list goes on.

The above list would not even help the current situation of home owners faced with a very high monthly mortgage payments.

I feel that the mortgage companies need to step up and work with their current customers to restructure the loans to something that their clients can afford. this would greatly increase the confidence level that can bring about the stability that everyone is looking for.

Top antivirus programs for Windows

Richard Thewissen (ERA Realty Pros) — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 21:32:14 -0500

Download.com is filled with lots of apps for your everyday use. Lots of description and reviews. Take a look at the following link to read some of the top rated antivirus programs for windows. Are they still needed? Very much so!

download.com link

Look at the free ones. they work just as good!

Fed Cuts Interest Rate - Now what?

Richard Thewissen (ERA Realty Pros) — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 21:12:20 -0500

The Federal Reserve slashed a key interest rate by a half a point (most experts were expecting a quatere point reduction).

Listening to the market watch, one expert pointed this out and stated that this was a claar statement from the Federal Reserve, that they are willing to step in and make more adjustments, should it prove necessary.

Said same analyst also stated that although it assists short term loans, it will not really help current mortages.

I'm curious to hear what everyone thinks about all of this and what they expect to see will happen as a result of the rate cut.

Assisting New Agents

Richard Thewissen (ERA Realty Pros) — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 08:09:56 -0500

I have been frequenting my local American Legion and VFW post (After transfering to them) and being a new member, I was plesently surprised how excited everyone was. One member replied that new blood is a good thing, every business and organization needs that constant supply in order to remain in existance. Everyone is all too happy to assist me with just about anything.

Having only recently obtained my Real Estate License, I get the feeling that some Realtors are not too happy about it. More competition, another one to cut into their commission, etc.

New agents are needed to keep this industry going and we might even bring some added value to it.

File Compression Programs -What are they?

Richard Thewissen (ERA Realty Pros) — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 07:49:20 -0500

At this point I hope that everyone has heard of a zip file. How about an rar file? A daa file? Well they all fall under the category of file compression applications.

Believe it or not file compression was originally considered a virus because the definition of a computer virus is something that alters the content of a data file. In this case its a good thing :)

File compression is the practice of packaging a file or files to use less disk space. Use the CNET Download.com File Compression listings to find the best compression utilities for archiving your important files. For more File Compression resources, visit the most popular software for data compression or the newest releases in file compression.

Stonington CT - Hot Sheet - Take A Look!

Richard Thewissen (ERA Realty Pros) — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 07:41:47 -0500

Hot Sheet 09-17-07 Richard Thewissen (401) 218-5250 www.sectlisting.com
MLS	Status	Title	Address	City	Bedrooms	Baths	Square Feet	Price
E206374	Active	Waterviews in Stonington Borough	19 WATER STREET	Stonington	2	1 Half: 0	Approx 891	$849,900
E204520	Active	Spacious Townhouse!	19 Hawthorne Dr.	New London	2	1 Half: 1	1,617	$227,777
E208715	Active	Beautiful Home Pawcatuck Connecticut	5 Cavendish Lane	Pawcatuck	2	2 Half: 0	1,200	$309,000
E207402	Active	Spectacular Seasonal Lakefront Home	3 LUCILLE LANE	Lebanon	2	2 Half: 0	1,440	$695,000
E205149	Just Reduced	Better than New	9 Grove Ave.	Groton	3	3 Half: 1	1,792	$299,950
E207829	Active	Spaciously Inviting Colonial!	10 COLONIAL DR	Waterford	4	2 Half: 1	2,706	$424,900
E208927	Active	Location, Location, Location!!	36 Ballymeade Ln	Windsor	4	3 Half: 0	2,300	$359,000
209839	Active	Water Front Property New London	777 Pequot Ave	New London	4	3 Half: 0	3,691	$1,300,000
E209830	Active	Exceptional Unit	72 BRIAR LN	Norwich	2	2 Half: 0	1,500	$247,900
E210161	Active	Presidential Estates	14 Hyde Park Drive	Gales Ferry	4	2 Half: 1	2,416	$425,000
E207970	Active	The Thrall Homestead, circa 1760	46 East Street	East Granby	4	2 Half: 1	3,569	$625,000
E205669	Just Reduced	Cozy 3 Bedroom Ranch	7 Hickory Drive	Ledyard	3	2	1,480	$219,900
M9104527	Active	Mediterranean Masterpiece!	23 Twin Lakes	Waterford	4	3 Half: 2	5,001	$1,600,000
E208399	Active	Mystic Seaport Waterviews	52 Pearl Street	Mystic	5	1 Half: 1	2,355	$799,000

Tighter Mortgage Rules Keep Some Buyers Out

Richard Thewissen (ERA Realty Pros) — Sat, 15 Sep 2007 20:48:31 -0500

Daily Real Estate News | September 14, 2007

Tighter Mortgage Rules Keep Some Buyers Out
The time for a would-be home buyer to think about their credit score is long before applying for a mortgage.

Mortgage standards are getting tougher. To qualify for a lower rate, a borrower needs a credit score of at least 680, out of a possible 850, according to a consensus of lenders. Last year, consumers needed a credit score of at least 650.

Free credit reports are available online. The best sites offer results from all three credit reporting agencies, including Experian, TransUnion, and Equifax. One possibility is AnnualCreditReport.com.

Next, borrowers should check out their FICO score, provided by Fair Isaac. For $15.95, they can see how they rank.

To lift ratings, consumers should make on-time payments and keep their credit card balances below 35 percent of their limits.

Source: BusinessWeek, Emily Thornton and Lauren Young (09/17/07)

www.sectlisting.com Hot Sheet -take a look

Richard Thewissen (ERA Realty Pros) — Sat, 15 Sep 2007 20:43:36 -0500

Hot Sheet 09-15-07 Richard Thewissen (401) 218-5250 www.sectlisting.com
MLS	Status	Title	Address	City	Bedrooms	Baths	Square Feet	Price
E206374	Active	Waterviews in Stonington Borough	19 WATER STREET	Stonington	2	1 Half: 0	Approx 891	$849,900
E204520	Active	Spacious Townhouse!	19 Hawthorne Dr.	New London	2	1 Half: 1	1,617	$227,777
E208715	Active	Beautiful Home Pawcatuck Connecticut	5 Cavendish Lane	Pawcatuck	2	2 Half: 0	1,200	$309,000
E207402	Active	Spectacular Seasonal Lakefront Home	3 LUCILLE LANE	Lebanon	2	2 Half: 0	1,440	$695,000
E205149	Just Reduced	Better than New	9 Grove Ave.	Groton	3	3 Half: 1	1,792	$299,950
E207829	Active	Spaciously Inviting Colonial!	10 COLONIAL DR	Waterford	4	2 Half: 1	2,706	$424,900
E208927	Active	Location, Location, Location!!	36 Ballymeade Ln	Windsor	4	3 Half: 0	2,300	$359,000
209839	Active	Water Front Property New London	777 Pequot Ave	New London	4	3 Half: 0	3,691	$1,300,000
E209830	Active	Exceptional Unit	72 BRIAR LN	Norwich	2	2 Half: 0	1,500	$247,900
E210161	Active	Presidential Estates	14 Hyde Park Drive	Gales Ferry	4	2 Half: 1	2,416	$425,000
E207970	Active	The Thrall Homestead, circa 1760	46 East Street	East Granby	4	2 Half: 1	3,569	$625,000
E205669	Just Reduced	Cozy 3 Bedroom Ranch	7 Hickory Drive	Ledyard	3	2	1,480	$219,900
M9104527	Active	Mediterranean Masterpiece!	23 Twin Lakes	Waterford	4	3 Half: 2	5,001	$1,600,000
E208399	Active	Mystic Seaport Waterviews	52 Pearl Street	Mystic	5	1 Half: 1	2,355	$799,000

Paulson predicts economic growth to continue

Richard Thewissen (ERA Realty Pros) — Fri, 14 Sep 2007 09:40:16 -0500

I just read this news report on the internet. Does anyone agree with him?

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said on Friday that it will take time to work through the problems contributing to current financial market turmoil but expressed confidence U.S. growth will not be derailed.

"I feel very confident that this economy is going to continue to grow," Paulson said in an interview with CNBC television. "Inflation is contained and that is obviously the key to extending an economic expansion."

Sectlisting.com New London County Hot Sheet - Take A Look

Richard Thewissen (ERA Realty Pros) — Fri, 14 Sep 2007 09:19:59 -0500

Hot Sheet 09-14-07 Richard Thewissen (401) 218-5250 www.sectlisting.com
MLS	Status	Title	Address	City	Bedrooms	Baths	Square Feet	Price
E206374	Active	Waterviews in Stonington Borough	19 WATER STREET	Stonington	2	1 Half: 0	Approx 891	$849,900
E204520	Active	Spacious Townhouse!	19 Hawthorne Dr.	New London	2	1 Half: 1	1,617	$227,777
E208715	Active	Beautiful Home Pawcatuck Connecticut	5 Cavendish Lane	Pawcatuck	2	2 Half: 0	1,200	$309,000
E207402	Active	Spectacular Seasonal Lakefront Home	3 LUCILLE LANE	Lebanon	2	2 Half: 0	1,440	$695,000
E205149	Just Reduced	Better than New	9 Grove Ave.	Groton	3	3 Half: 1	1,792	$299,950
E207829	Active	Spaciously Inviting Colonial!	10 COLONIAL DR	Waterford	4	2 Half: 1	2,706	$424,900
E208927	Active	Location, Location, Location!!	36 Ballymeade Ln	Windsor	4	3 Half: 0	2,300	$359,000
209839	Active	Water Front Property New London	777 Pequot Ave	New London	4	3 Half: 0	3,691	$1,300,000
E209830	Active	Exceptional Unit	72 BRIAR LN	Norwich	2	2 Half: 0	1,500	$247,900
E210161	Active	Presidential Estates	14 Hyde Park Drive	Gales Ferry	4	2 Half: 1	2,416	$425,000
E207970	Active	The Thrall Homestead, circa 1760	46 East Street	East Granby	4	2 Half: 1	3,569	$625,000
E205669	Just Reduced	Cozy 3 Bedroom Ranch	7 Hickory Drive	Ledyard	3	2	1,480	$219,900
M9104527	Active	Mediterranean Masterpiece!	23 Twin Lakes	Waterford	4	3 Half: 2	5,001	$1,600,000
E208399	Active	Mystic Seaport Waterviews	52 Pearl Street	Mystic	5	1 Half: 1	2,355	$799,000

Google search technology - explaining how they rank web pages

Richard Thewissen (ERA Realty Pros) — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 10:26:58 -0500

While browsing around google, I discovered this information explaining how google ranks web pages. Hope it helps everyone out there :)

Google searches more sites more quickly, delivering the most relevant results.

Introduction

Google runs on a unique combination of advanced hardware and software. The speed you experience can be attributed in part to the efficiency of our search algorithm and partly to the thousands of low cost PC's we've networked together to create a superfast search engine.

The heart of our software is PageRank^TM, a system for ranking web pages developed by our founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin at Stanford University. And while we have dozens of engineers working to improve every aspect of Google on a daily basis, PageRank continues to play a central role in many of our web search tools.

PageRank Explained

PageRank relies on the uniquely democratic nature of the web by using its vast link structure as an indicator of an individual page's value. In essence, Google interprets a link from page A to page B as a vote, by page A, for page B. But, Google looks at considerably more than the sheer volume of votes, or links a page receives; for example, it also analyzes the page that casts the vote. Votes cast by pages that are themselves "important" weigh more heavily and help to make other pages "important." Using these and other factors, Google provides its views on pages' relative importance.

Of course, important pages mean nothing to you if they don't match your query. So, Google combines PageRank with sophisticated text-matching techniques to find pages that are both important and relevant to your search. Google goes far beyond the number of times a term appears on a page and examines dozens of aspects of the page's content (and the content of the pages linking to it) to determine if it's a good match for your query.

Integrity

Google's complex automated methods make human tampering with our search results extremely difficult. And though we may run relevant ads above and next to our results, Google does not sell placement within the results themselves (i.e., no one can buy a particular or higher placement). A Google search provides an easy and effective way to find high-quality websites that contain information relevant to your search.

VFW - Veterans of Foreign Wars

Richard Thewissen (ERA Realty Pros) — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 15:14:47 -0500

After years of thinking about it, I finally too the time and researched on the eligibility and submitted my application to become a member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars(VFW).

Once I had my membership card, I scheduled a time for me to go to the local VFW in my area (Post 1265 Pawcatuck CT) so that I may transfer my membership to that post.

The room was nothing to look at, a pool table, music playing, and a bar with stool to sit on. If this was a local bar, you might not want to even stop by and have a drink. That was my first impression.

While filling out the paperwork, I asked the bar person (female) if they server any meals here. She replied that they did not. Well if you know me, you would know that I like to joke around. upon hearing her statement, I quickly replied " This must be a drinking man's post!!!"

Everyone agreed and laughed.

Not one to seem out of place I ordered a beer to drink that I will never finish (its 12:30 pm). I'm not alone sittingat the bar. Two elderly people are also sitting there drinking, but it looked like thery were there more for the social contact than really drinking.

Once I finished the paperwork, I was able to really look at my soon to be post. The service poster you would expect to see in any military orgination, a board where people have placed their business cards (which I quickly added some of my cards),and announcement board for the next steak dinner, the us flag and other posters that I really can not recall. Then I began to see something that you don't see too often...

A dinner table reserved for our fallen comrades who will never be able to attend, another bulliten board listing active service members who are currently deployed to Iraq, announcement on service member support, old pictures of men in their uniform, and yet another board listing members who have recently passed away.

I was blown away at the amount of history in that room, at the many sacrifices that each and everyone, myself included, had made while serving our country.

Sun Tsu once wrote that "The sole purpose of the military is to enforce the policy of the state" it was true then and it is still true today.

We owe a lot to these service men and women. At all times, peace or war, they serve(d) to protect our values and our honor, our lives and our famliy. Even if you don't like war and what it stands for, we owe these men and women our thanks and respect.

In my eyes the room changed to something better. It was the best bar I have ever been in!

Is This the End of the Line for Real Estate Agents?

Richard Thewissen (ERA Realty Pros) — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 10:34:46 -0500

I read this Article today and wanted to ask everyone's thoughts about it.

Is This the End of the Line for Real Estate Agents?

By Bill Miles

RISMEDIA, September 10, 2007-The long term viability of the agent, as a group or individual, is going to turn on their ability to deliver value to the real estate consumer. While there is great momentum in our society in favor of using a real estate professional when Continued >

Being new to the industry, and reading this article, I was left with mixed feelings.

Thoughts? Comments?

Another portable app -Audacity Portable

Richard Thewissen (ERA Realty Pros) — Sat, 08 Sep 2007 21:30:03 -0500

Audacity Portable

sound editing and recording to go

Audacity Portable is the popular Audacity audio editor packaged as a portable app, so you can take your audio files along with everything you need to edit and record on the go. You can place it on your USB flash drive, iPod, portable hard drive or a CD and use it on any computer, without leaving any personal information behind.

I guess I'm on a roll today!

Download Link

google Apps are good.However.......

Richard Thewissen (ERA Realty Pros) — Sat, 08 Sep 2007 21:25:49 -0500

when Google provided an office productivity suite, similar to that of Microsoft Office, I was very excited to give it a shot.

Most people would fine it fine for their day to day needs with the added bonus that you can go from one computer to another and have access to the same program and a centralized data storage.

However..... and this is an important one, you need to have internet access. To me, that's a big issue. It never fails that when you most need to access your document, you can't because the internet connection is down ( and it does not make a difference weather you go to one machine or another in that problem network).

One thing that I do keep around with me is a portable storage device for a usb port. Most people would call it a usb storage key. Openoffice, a free application, has a compact usb version that can reside on your usb key.

Now you can literally go from one machine to another and work on your documents without worrking if the pc has the program you need to access them. the big plus here is that you don't need to have internet access.

Just make sure that the pc your trying to use has a usb port ( yup, it was too good to be true).

the good news is that most machine will have a usb port or two. and most usb storage keys will also have the openoffice app already installed.

If not, don't worry, I have provided the link with this post.

OpenOffice.org Portable