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Content Tagged with Zoho + technology

Since Ismael Ghalimi first took the plunge, (anyone out there who did it even before him?), it is becoming quite frequent now for others to try getting rid of one’s desktop based software and live on a strict ‘web-based productivity applications on a browser’ diet. Oliver Rist of InfoWorld is the latest. He lived for a week like that here’s his final verdict :

Zoho is definitely the standout in the group. It’s the only one that not only offers most of the apps I need but also seems to have a clear vision of where it’s going. And it’s free. ThinkFree and gOffice are similar, but neither has the breadth of apps, features, or collaboration that Zoho does.

There are a lot more insights in his very nice & elaborate article titled “Can Web-based applications outwit, outplay, outlast the desktop?“. Thanks a lot, Oliver & InfoWorld!

Chris Harris, in the August issue of the School Library Journal writes,

Save a document with your desktop word processor and there it sits. Sure, you can move it around using the Sneaker-Net on a USB flash drive or e-mail the document, but there are serious limitations. Save a document using Zoho Writer and it is available wherever you can access the Web. You can share the document with read-only or read/write permissions with a simple e-mail invitation. Or you can make the document public and allow anyone to read what you have written. The options don’t stop there; you can also automatically post it to a blog, export it to a PDF file, or even save it in the standard DOC format for use in Microsoft Word.

So the next time you are collaborating on a project with a teacher down the hall, a librarian across the district, or a national committee, why not try Zoho Writer? Or if your school discourages students from bringing documents from home to school on storage drives, why not introduce students to an online word processor?

The whole article is available here. Thanks, Chris!

Allan Hoffman at ‘The Star Ledger‘ in an article titled ‘Internet Software challenges
Microsoft‘ had the following to say about companies trying to offer web-based alternatives to the MS Office suite, citing Zoho as the primary example.

Trash Microsoft Office.

That’s the message from a number of startups offering alternatives to Microsoft’s well- entrenched programs for word processing, presentations and spread sheets.

In providing alternatives, these companies don’t just trot out garden-variety software. Their programs are Web-based, meaning you don’t have to install and update software on your personal computer; the programs simply run from inside your Web browser, mimicking the look and feel of typical desktop applications. To top it off, they’re free — at least for now.

Too good to be true? Well, yes and no, as I learned after trying out Zoho (www.zoho.com), one of the innovators in Web-based tools competing with Office.

As with other applications in the trend known as Web 2.0, Zoho requires nothing more than a quick sign-up in order to get started. Unfortunately, Zoho requires separate accounts for the programs in its office suite — Zoho Sheet, Zoho Show and Zoho Writer. But once you have your accounts and sign on, you’re up and running, with an application inside your browser ready to create text documents, craft presentations or perform cal culations.

Anyone familiar with Microsoft Excel, PowerPoint and Word should have a relatively easy time using these programs.

Among Zoho’s applications, the spreadsheet and word processing programs, in particular, provide many of the features frequently used by typical PC users. When you need to share your work with users of Office or other software, you can easily export (or import) your documents to standard formats.

The applications are particularly suitable for college students and mobile professionals interested in storing their work online, accessible from any computer. Others will enjoy Zoho’s sharing features. Zoho Writer, for instance, lets you make your documents public for others to read and offer comments, while Zoho Show will display your presentation online — a handy way to share a presentation with colleagues.

The software does have limitations. Zoho Writer only gives you seven different font sizes and limited font styles, while Zoho Show doesn’t offer anything close to the flexibility of PowerPoint.

That simplicity is a hallmark of many of the Web-based applications aiming to serve as Office substitutes.

We are working on a single sign-on and that should make things much easier for everyone using Zoho. And as is typical with any Web 2.0 application, like Zoho Writer & Zoho Sheet, Zoho Show will continue to evolve rapidly too.

And about tools like Zoho being web-based, Allan (like many others) had this to say,

Despite everything offered by these tools, I doubt droves of people will be abandoning Microsoft Office and other desktop office tools anytime soon. That’s not be cause of features or performance, but access. Unless you’re online, you don’t have the ability to run these programs.

Thanks to Allan for taking note of Zoho! And an answer to his concerns may be as stated here.

This is in continuation to Ismael Ghalimi’s post ‘Office 2.0 is going Mainstream‘. Yes, web apps being put to use by journalists & getting mentioned in MSM is the next logical step in the right direction. Zoho Writer was mentioned in ‘The Wall Street Journal’ too by Jeremy Wagstaff sometime ago. (the article requires subscription to be viewed)

We have received feedback from a very diversified community that’s put Zoho Writer to good use. Schools use it as teachers give presentations & assignments online while students collaborate on projects easily (no emailing of documents to & fro), librarians recommend it (Gary Price uses Zoho), writers use it (we have got mails from a few budding authors who are using it to pen their novels/books), bloggers post to their blogs as Zoho Writer is compatible with WordPress, Blogger, TypePad, LiveJournal etc and this got us surprised - even doctors find Zoho Writer useful!

The same’s the case with other Zoho applications too. This shows how web apps in the Office 2.0 space are making a significant impact too, in tandem with their more famous social networking cousins like Flickr, del.icio.us, YouTube etc.