"hip" was probably the wrong word. It's more like "having the temporary advantage". I expect desktop office programs will also support real-time collaboration i

"hip" was probably the wrong word. It's more like "having the temporary advantage". I expect desktop office programs will also support real-time collaboration in the near future. It's indeed an incredibly useful feature, so there is no reason why it would remain limited to third-party hosted web programs. (and desktop programs could implement security features such as encryption, and/or use peer-to-peer protocols, preventing third-party privacy issues)