Careers: Why do so many managers confuse cheerleaders with team players? One reader asks that of Bob Lewis. “I suppose one of these days I should really write an apology to all cheerleaders. Real cheerleaders are excellent athletes who work very hard at their trade. Unlike those in the corporate world to whom we apply the metaphor,” Lewis explains in this Advice Line post. “Cheerleading is an important role for both leaders and team members, but it’s an ancillary role, not the main event. Anyone who counts cheerleading as their most important contribution needs to gain some additional skills.” From the feature well: Google is aiming to disrupt fat client computing on the desktop. It’s strategy is called Google Apps. “So is Office as we have known it for the last 20-odd years doomed?” Randall Kennedy poses in Thin vs. fat: Google’s plan to kill Microsoft Office. Not so fast. “We heard similar prognostications when the Web first appeared. Netscape and its ilk were going to change the desktop-bound world — but they didn’t. Then again, Netscape never quite managed the momentum that Google has. “Google is a tidal wave. The talent. The cash. The swagger. If anyone can make cloud computing a reality, and thus take a serious run at Microsoft, Google can.” Microsoft, however, is not sitting idly by. “When it launches Workspaces as a beta release on December 10, Microsoft could even usurp its competitor’s position as the cloud-computing trendsetter.” Related: The sound and fury of Google vs. Microsoft.Columnist’s corner: Using the best programming tools for the job has not always been accepted by even Fortune 500 companies. Take the case of this week’s Off the Record author, who found himself stuck in the virtual stone age as the company insisted on BASICA. “What they wanted was brutally simple to whip out in any real language. I happened to dabble in dBase and Clipper in my spare time and offered to bring a prototype the next day.” Choosing the best code for the job. It worked, quite well in fact, and he managed in a single Clipper line what had taken four days in BASICA. “You’d think this was a story with a happy ending but unfortunately it takes a dark turn.” Stodgy management went so far as to threaten legal action against the programmer, who nearly got fired. That dragged on for months, time spent living in fear of consequences. “I’m still here, but I’m keeping my bright ideas to myself.” Careers