Most people see this as a crucial moment for the digital age, moving away from plugging software into a computer towards networked, off-site programs provided by powerhorse companies like Google. Thinking about a Google-controled word processor, Vershbow wonders what writing might be like in this brave new world...
"Imagine you're writing your opus and ads, drawn from words and themes in your work, are popping up in the periphery. Or the program senses line breaks resembling verse, and you get solicited for publication — before you've even finished writing — in one of those suckers' poetry anthologies. Leave the cursor blinking too long on a blank page and it starts advertising cures for writers' block. Copy from a copyrighted source and Writely orders you to cease and desist after matching your text in a unique character string database. Write an essay about terrorists and child pornographers and you find yourself flagged."
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