Web Office Replacements

This is from Small Dog's email newsletter. - June 2006



Google tossed a small grenade in the battle with Microsoft this week,
too, with the beta release of Google Spreadsheets. I signed up for
the beta program:

http://www.google.com/googlespreadsheets/try_out.html

There must still be some openings in the testing program because I
was immediately accepted. Google Spreadsheets is, in my view, a very
significant development. Google has created a very powerful (yet not
Excel) and functional spreadsheet program that is cross platform,
internet-based, and free. One of the neatest features of Google
Spreadsheets is that it is easy to share spreadsheets. In fact, you
can work on the spreadsheet simultaneously with a coworker located
anywhere. Google also provides a chat window to trade instant
messages while you are working on that business plan.

Polishing up my crystal ball, I see online productivity applications
becoming more and more popular. As the spread of broadband capacity
reaches just about everywhere, it will no longer be necessary to
actually own this software capability, but rather you will simply
access it on the net. I found no lag in working on the spreadsheet
and it was just as if I was working on Excel at my desk. You store
your files online so they are accessible anywhere and you can export
them as Excel-compatible .xls files or .csv files.

If you cannot get into the beta program at Google, check out another
online spreadsheet:

http://zohosheet.com/

Zoho sheet has most of the features of Google Spreadsheets and adds a
few of its own tricks, too.

One warning: Neither of these applications will work with Safari
right now. You need to be running Internet Exploder or FireFox 1.5
(recommended).

I was able to open any of my Excel sheets from my hard drive. New
sheets that I created using these applications all opened easily in
Excel. I began to wonder what other applications were available.

One of the questions we get asked a lot with the new Intel-based Macs
is "Where is the word processing program?" While Text Edit is
available and there are some test-drive applications included, we
even had one gentleman angrily return his iMac because it did not
have a word processor. Now I have a better answer. You don't need no
freaking word processor! Just connect to the internet and type away.
Just like the spreadsheet programs, there are some word processors
out there, too.

Writely has recently been acquired by Google and will make a new
appearance soon as a Google word processor, but you can check this
one out at:

http://www.writely.com

They will also give you an opportunity to enter your email address to
be notified when Google opens up the software to new registrations.
The software is compatible with Microsoft Word and has the same
sharing and collaboration features as the spreadsheet applications.

Zoho also has a word processor. I was able to give that one a better
test because their beta program is still open and easily accessed at:

http://www.zohowriter.com

I gave Zoho writer a good workout and it is a very capable and fast
word processor. I may start using it to see how versatile it can be.

Should Microsoft be quaking in its boots? I doubt it, but if you look
forward you may find that Microsoft Office, Word, and Excel will move
from being indispensable to being irrelevant. With Apple nipping at
its heels with a clearly superior operating system and now with
hardware that can run any operating system and with Google attacking
its flanks with online collaborative productivity applications,
Microsoft needs to innovate or they too may become irrelevant.