As more applications move to the 'cloud' scenario (the term used for online applications that run on a website rather than on a local computer), this can reduce the cost of purchasing applications, and the hassles of keeping them up to date. However are they a safe, guaranteed route for businesses to use?

Last week Google's Document and Spreadsheet applications disappeared from the internet from an hour last Tuesday when the servers running the service went offline. Google now offers access as a paid service now, however if your internet access fails or the servers are offline what are the implications? You will not be able to use the applications.

Google has responded, and the company wants let it's cusomers know that it reaslises when people pay for something, they expect to have access to it. "For a short period this morning, our users had difficulty accessing Google Docs. Some Google Apps users were also affected," the company says. "We have now resolved the problem. We know how important Google Docs is to our users, so we take issues like this very seriously."

One option is to have a local copy of the free open source Open Office installed as an insurance policy. This would ensure you can still open your documents and spreadsheets in case of emergency. But surely this defeats the object of paying for an online service...