Hello Sebastian, [for the interesint part skip to *here*] I also think that the collaboration platforms that offer more "real-time" features will win. Even more if they can solve the problem of not always being connected (on the other hand, this is happening less and less). Although I think that there is still time, it is not by much (Google Docs does not currently support offline-mode, though they had that in the past. For some reason they cancelled the feature; they also cancelled Wave - maybe it's too complex even for them!??!). A good approach to making it work with and without connection would seem to be to assume the worst: assume there is no connection. Model all updates and sync as delayed and a-sync. And if you DO have connection, the better :-) I would go so far as to say that this is how Apple solves the problem with iCloud and Core-Data. If you are interested in this subject, I would recommend reading their documentation even if you don't code for Apple platforms (I don't either, although I planned to). They are not at the real-time modifications yet, although very close. For me it WILL be one of their next moves against Google and the Web. *here* As for a "Smalltalk" way to solve this, one thing I would love to have at some point is a framework for automatic (seamless) data-synchronization. Only that it would not be "data" but "objects" ;-) Something like that /could/ then be a core Pharo feature, if not a KILLER feature. Imagine having 2 related VMs (or unrelated, but with some related object graph) in two parts of the world. One user changes one object in the fist one, another changes another (or the same) object in the second one. When they contact the cloud they synchronize automatically (either peer-to-peer or to/from a trusted server). And I see the changes happening automatically, without having to do a thing. Awesome right? Now that "VM" (or object graph) could be Pharo, or a web-app in Amber, why not... If both are connected, then the changes occur immediately, and we experience it in "real-time". If the connect at different points in time, then the changes are delayed (delayed collaboration, or synchronization). I think the problem is rather complex and I am afraid that it's not that easy to come up with a solution that is, on the one hand, easy enough, and on the other hand flexible enough to accommodate for all cases. Google Docs, or Apple iCloud, are "document-centric". Much different is to deal with an object graph of any possible shape, I think. But there are much brighter minds in this list than mine, and I am sure that some day one will come with this killer-framework and Smalltalk will be, once again, at the forefront of innovation :-) Best regards, (also) Sebastian