When it's ajaxWindows, of course. OK, maybe that doesn't make sense to you yet - but it will when you check out ajaxWindows.

This is an interesting concept - using AJAX and your browser (IE or Firefox), ajaxWindows allows you to use a very impressive desktop, complete with web-based office apps. The data you create (documents, sketches, presentations, etc.) are stored in an interesting way - inside a Google GMail account.

You can also browse and use files from your local file system, such as when you want to paste graphics, text, etc. into ajaxWindows. There is also a sync tool to keep music, docs, etc. synchronized between your virtual desktop and your physical computer, should you desire to keep them synchronized. Of course, you can also use Google Docs to share things across multiple locations but that's certainly not unique to ajaxWindows.

Why would you use ajaxWindows? Well, it's free, functional, and it allows you to have the same desktop (complete with all your documents) from any high-speed internet connection in the world. This is an interesting take on remote desktop access, and I bet it will be a significant game-changer in the future.

You can sign up for a free account, or try it out in a non-persistent trial mode. I'd describe it as "not yet ready for prime time" -- for example, I could never successfully add an image to the presentation you see in the screenshot above -- but it's still worth a visit just to see how cool it is.

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