Let’s Look at Web-based Office Applications
ByBeing a small business owner, I’ve been exploring the world of on-line collaboration tools, including alternatives to Microsoft Office. We will explore both ThinkFree and Google Docs and Spreadsheet applications and then do a comparison. Today, we will talk about “ThinkFree-The Best On-line Office on Earth”.
ThinkFree, headquartered in San Jose, CA, has developed a suite of office products named: ThinkFree Write, ThinkFree Calc and ThinkFree Show. All three apps are compatible with the Microsoft Office versions of Word, Excel & PowerPoint. Their slogan is: “get the best Microsoft Office compatibility available”. This means any of your office docs can be uploaded into ThinkFree for editing, viewing or sharing. After revisions have been made, the file(s) can then be downloaded to your hard drive. There is an area on the site where users have made their documents public. This could be very helpful if you’re looking for a specialized spreadsheet format or perhaps a slick new PowerPoint background.
ThinkFree provides four ways to use their software:
- On-Line -this is their free service which includes:
- 1 GB storage
- support of all major desktop Operating Systems
- live document embedding in blog posts (this looks really cool, but haven’t tried it out yet. Go to http://viewer.thinkfree.com/ to check this out).
- free collaboration tools for sharing and editing of files. Something really nice here is the option to send the link from your own e-mail client. This is a handy feature in that time is not wasted building a contact database from within ThinkFree.
- A Premium service should be available in September.
- ThinkFree Desktop
- The downloadable version of the office suite – cost is $49
- includes the ability to save docs in pdf format
- ThinkFree Portable
- Put your presentations on an Ipod or U3
- cost is $29
- read about it here: http://product.thinkfree.com/portable/
- ThinkFree Enterprise
- For use with businesses with multiple desktops
Point your browser over to ThinkFree and explore their offerings. A blog is maintained for obtaining the latest on the products.
Also, look @ Zoho (www.zoho.com)
I think that your statement about "Their slogan is: “get the best Microsoft Office compatibility available”. " should be highlighted/bolded/underlined.
As more and more people begin to leave MS-Office, this is really going to be a key differentiator. I started using ThinkFree because of ComputerWorlds big article and test on these "alternative offices".
Regardless of which one you choose, the other 95% of the world is still using MS-Office, so that compatibility is key.