Now that the federal goverment — and Microsoft — are going all in on cloud apps, city of L.A. has more reason to do so

That's a long title, eh? I suppose I should tighten up on it, but in the wild-west world of blogging, it's writer's choice, am I right?

Anyhow, the two big topics these days are the new apps.gov site which helps government agencies choose cloud-based applications, and Microsoft's unveiling of an early version of its Office Web suite, which brings longtime cash-generator MS Office into the cloud and accessible via a Web browser near you.

So if the federal government is recommending cloud-based applications, and Microsoft is making cloud-based apps, if only to compete with Google Apps (which is eating Microsoft's lunch and eyeing its breakfast and dinner, too), then apps and data in the cloud are starting to look a whole lot more mainstream.

And the city of Los Angeles' interest in adopting Google Apps isn't looking so out there.

I give Microsoft a whole lot of grief in this blog, and it's pretty obvious that the company has been reacting (instead of acting or innovating) since its founding. How can you argue with it? It's probably one of the most successful companies in American history.

And in this case, the development of Office Web is a reaction to the innovation of Google and others in developing browser-based applications.

Still, Microsoft is Microsoft, and Office is Office, and if you're a big entity like the City of Los Angeles, I encourage you to test out all the alternatives, including Google Apps, Microsoft Office Web, Zoho and anything else I've either forgotten to mention or haven't ever heard of.

Many of my fellow users of free, open-source software think cloud computing is going to take away our freedom, hurt open-source innovation and compromise our data. I don't know whether all, some or none of these things will happen.

What I do know is that in the near future, data and apps in the cloud is going to happen, government and the enterprise is already going there, and millions of others will soon follow.

And I believe that there's a place in this paradigm for huge makers of proprietary software, huge Web-based companies, plus companies and developers of software both free/open and otherwise to create new ways of creating, accessing, storing and manipulating the data that we derive from our personal and professional lives.