Is this the future of all software products? What do you think?
Open office tools are here, and they are going to stay. Whether they are “THE FUTURE” of all software products remains to be seen. There are many users that will just need a simple word processing program to tap out their paper, poems, novels, research articles. Not everyone needs, or wants, to share. I think the application of collaborative office tools will be most beneficial for small businesses or people who work from home that may not need a large suite of expensive office products, but like the idea of interactive tools available that are compitable with their stand-alone software.
The use of web office tools is certainly beneficial in personal, professional or business collaboration, and I think we will continue to see the expansion of their use in those spheres, as well as in add-ons to stand-alone products (ie: Office suite) that allows collaboration as well. Like all emerging trends, there’s alot of companies introducing products of this nature right now, and in the next several years we’ll see a battle over market share for this service.
Web Office tools: comments & observations
Zoho
I like that Zoho has a wiki addon. They look alot like google…enjoy that design asthetic….they have plugins for Microsoft
Google docs
I love & hate G-docs depending on what type of file I want to edit. I have trouble getting anything from PPT into their presentation moduel, and as a PPT power user I can’t stand the dumbed down options available in their web-based presentation platform. However, G-docs word processor is great: I’ve used it on countless projects…including in a statewide committee where we used it to create guidelines and other committee documents, as well as meeting minutes.
Here’s my opinion on G-doc’s presentation software
Which, for the record, doesn’t post so easily to WordPress blogs as an imbedded object. Figuring this is something they block. Annoying.
