ThinkFree | Google Writely | Zoho Writer [Archive]

RAV TUX

June 6th, 2006, 01:50 AM

Yesterday I started a free account with ThinkFree Online Office, and I have to say I am quite impressed.

With ThinkFree Write you get a office program which is just as good if not better then OpenOffice.Org, Abiword, or Microsoft Office.

with 1 GB online storage for your own online office.

The office program is provided by Sun Microsystems, ThinkFree is out of South Korea.

the nice thing is with an online office program like this you can free up space on your computer if you need.

They also provide the ability for online collaboration between other parties on documents.

here is a screenshot of the office program:

http://img114.imageshack.us/img114/9356/060520062044525ft.th.jpg (http://img114.imageshack.us/my.php?image=060520062044525ft.jpg)

and a screenshot of the online home office page:

http://img114.imageshack.us/img114/3514/060520062046442bw.th.jpg (http://img114.imageshack.us/my.php?image=060520062046442bw.jpg)

I find this especially helpful becuase I can work on a word document from multiply computers, home, work, etc.

Take a look and let me know what you think?

http://www.thinkfree.com/common/main.tfo

rado_london

June 6th, 2006, 01:55 AM

I like the idea. I just sugned up and will test it tomorow.

rado_london

June 6th, 2006, 01:57 AM

That is completely useless in the full mode. It has 3 seconds lack after i type up something.

RAV TUX

June 6th, 2006, 02:04 AM

That is completely useless in the full mode. It has 3 seconds lack after i type up something.

no lag time for me but I am using a EM64T dual core processor, I haven't tested it on my old computer yet.

PapaWiskas

June 6th, 2006, 02:10 AM

Interesting, but the paranoid/logical side of me says that I will create and manage my own files on my own PC.

RAV TUX

June 6th, 2006, 02:16 AM

Interesting, but the paranoid/logical side of me says that I will create and manage my own files on my own PC.

I know Google is due to come out with a project like this also, hence their take over of Writely.

but I do agree but I was thinking that this would be prefect for my wife to write up her research papers on at the University.

I'm not sure how many people would be interested in stealing Chemistry reports?

drizek

June 6th, 2006, 02:36 AM

But this is useless offline, so a lot of times you really wont be able to use it.

RAV TUX

June 6th, 2006, 03:32 AM

But this is useless offline, so a lot of times you really wont be able to use it.

honestly I am more online then off, so this would always be able to used.

briancurtin

June 6th, 2006, 04:45 AM

i think drizek is saying that when he leaves the house, its useless.

briancurtin

June 6th, 2006, 04:45 AM

no lag time for me but I am using a EM64T dual core processor, I haven't tested it on my old computer yet.
that probably has nothing to do with your lack of lag

23meg

June 6th, 2006, 04:48 AM

Interesting, but the paranoid/logical side of me says that I will create and manage my own files on my own PC.
Mine too. Long live the local HD.

patrick295767

June 6th, 2006, 10:39 AM

rpaller

June 6th, 2006, 02:41 PM

I signed up for ThinkFree to give it a whirl. It is interesting to see how they fare as Google ramps up it's online office suite. They already have a beta of Spreadsheets online (limited availability).

DigitalDuality

June 6th, 2006, 02:57 PM

RAV TUX

June 6th, 2006, 03:29 PM

I tried the program : that' s very very nice tool !
Can be very useful sometimes.

The problem is that I would prefer to have the same disk with gmail account (to centralize everthg: data ...).
Is there some ways that this program one day become in the hand of Google Organization ??

Greetz
Google bought Writely, which if you go to their site is not open for new users until Google gets it's online office up and running. It will be much like ThinkFree Office but by Google.

http://www2.writely.com/info/WritelyOverflowWelcome.htm

"We have closed off new registrations until we move Writely to Google's systems."

patrick295767

June 6th, 2006, 04:00 PM

Google bought Writely, which if you go to their site is not open for new users until Google gets it's online office up and running. It will be much like ThinkFree Office but by Google.

http://www2.writely.com/info/WritelyOverflowWelcome.htm

"We have closed off new registrations until we move Writely to Google's systems."

Thank you yozef !
Google is now everywhere !!
For when the coffee machine powered by google ?? :D

Writely:

We have closed off new registrations until we move Writely to Google's systems.

Please submit your e-mail address and we'll send you an email when registration opens back up!

Kimm

June 6th, 2006, 05:48 PM

Neat!

How good is the support for equations in ThinkFree?
This would realy be great for writing papers for school. No more sending files over FirstClass... (which still doesnt have a stable Linux client btw (and the client that exists uses some wierd and butt uggly Qt system)).

rado_london

June 7th, 2006, 12:56 AM

Dont you think that office has 100% MS OFFICE layout. No new ideas in the interface. I hope Google make some new stuff.

rcarring

June 7th, 2006, 03:53 AM

Think Free is crap.

It's entirely java driven which means unless you have a really fast cpu and lots of memory it sucks spherical objects big time.

I have a licensed copy of TFO 2 which I paid 50 bucks for and never use. I have a couple of TFO3 accounts which I haven't used in a long time because it is so friggin slow.

I have a 6mbs connection and it still takes ten minutes to load up on a machine that hasn't had TFO on it before.

Nah, I use http://www.zohowriter.com

patrick295767

June 7th, 2006, 09:06 AM

maniacmusician

January 8th, 2007, 11:36 PM

Anyone who knows me will admit that I love google to an unhealthy degree. However, since switching to Linux, my respect for them has been slipping little by little. Now, it dropped another notch or two. I found something that completely blows away Google Docs and Spreadsheets. You might have heard of it; It's called Zoho (http://zoho.com )

They have a full office suite; Word processor, Spreadsheets, Presentations (slide shows, etc), Wiki Editor, Virtual Office (online e-mail client, Calendar, IM), Project Management, Database creator, CRM, Planner, Chat.

So far, I've only tried Zoho Writer and Zoho Sheet (spreadsheets), and they absolutely kill Google Docs and Spreadsheets in terms of usability. They also have a bunch of cool templates in their template library. They also have a firefox plugin that lets you use Zoho to view documents online instead of an alternative resource heavy app. I'm absolutely loving this; go try it out!

I do lament that Google couldn't come up with something this great. I guess they're not as business-savvy as I thought or they would have bought Zoho instead of Writely (it would be worth it even if the expense were greater). Oh well. Google loses another point :( [sigh] and I was rooting for them too.

PS: Before you ask, Zoho boasts the same document sharing capabilities as Google Docs. Enjoy!

seijuro

January 8th, 2007, 11:55 PM

nice tip I'll have to give it a look over.

roderikk

January 9th, 2007, 12:06 AM

Wow, I just read this:

http://thedailywtf.com/Articles/Best_of_2006_0x3a__The_Virtudyne_Saga.aspx

A bit freaky that I now see this post. Are they in any way connected...?

Wangsta

January 9th, 2007, 12:37 AM

well, i gotta say, it wipes the floor with google. im a google worshipper myself, but this is just way better.

you can't blame google though, i don't think they put a lot of energy into the docs, writer, and page creator. after all, they're only a search engine place

MattSMiddleton

January 9th, 2007, 12:37 AM

Thanks for the heads up, last semester I did an experiment where I only used google's online apps (where applicable) for school, and It worked out great, so I think this semester I'm going to do the same thing and blog about it here (http://www.hewasloved.blogspot.com/) (http://www.hewasloved.blogspot.com/%29).

maniacmusician

January 9th, 2007, 01:26 AM

Wow, I just read this:

http://thedailywtf.com/Articles/Best_of_2006_0x3a__The_Virtudyne_Saga.aspx

A bit freaky that I now see this post. Are they in any way connected...?
That was...the most mind-numbing, and boring article, that I have ever read...

dbbolton

January 9th, 2007, 03:56 AM

how does it compare to OOo ?

maniacmusician

January 9th, 2007, 07:40 AM

well its not as feature packed obviously, since its a web app; but it's a considerable rival I would say. I prefer it so far, at least. If you use a decent browser, it's not very slow at all, and fun to work with. Plus they offer so many services at Zoho it's hard to say no.

ahmedhussain

January 10th, 2007, 04:04 PM

Hi maniacmusician,

This is Ahmed from Zoho. Thanks for the nice article and for your kind words. As for the performance aspect, we are working diligently on improving it in a big way in our next update. So stay tuned for more surprises at Zoho.

Ahmed
Zoho

maniacmusician

January 10th, 2007, 06:18 PM

Ahmed, that's great! I do have one issue with Zoho though, and I submitted a feedback report, but I thought I'd post it here as well since you took the time to.

I don't like the way I can't middle click on the links on the page (due to the javascript) to open it in a new tab. I'd use the "force new windows to open in new tabs" but I can't seem to find that option in firefox at the moment. So middle-clicking ability would be amazing (don't know if that's even possible with your current setup).

Thanks again for a great product. I wonder how your support for the Opera browser is (because Google's sucks. a lot), so I'm going to try that when I get home.

OldTimeTech

January 10th, 2007, 07:35 PM

PC World (I know M$ magazine) had a big write up on Zoho and basically said just what your saying maniacmusician.

maniacmusician

January 11th, 2007, 12:59 AM

cool, I didn't know that. After using it, there's honestly no way that I can go back to Google Dosc and Spreadsheets in good conscience. There's simply no comparison.

RAV TUX

January 11th, 2007, 01:02 AM

Thread Title edited:

Google Docs/Writely? Pfft, forget that. Try this instead

EDIT: and all corresponding post titles edited.

also if my memory is correct a thread on Zoho was started monthes ago if I can dig it up I will merge the threads

maniacmusician

January 11th, 2007, 01:21 AM

Thread Title edited:

EDIT: and all corresponding post titles edited.

also if my memory is correct a thread on Zoho was started monthes ago if I can dig it up I will merge the threads
how come you guys always go crazy merging threads? I think this needs to be reconsidered lol. Do all these threads really need to be merged? especially when there's a large time difference from one to the next? I think not

edit: I just tried and Zoho works very well in Opera. That just seals it. This app rocks.

RAV TUX

January 11th, 2007, 02:06 AM

how come you guys always go crazy merging threads? I think this needs to be reconsidered lol. Do all these threads really need to be merged? especially when there's a large time difference from one to the next? I think not

edit: I just tried and Zoho works very well in Opera. That just seals it. This app rocks.

*Utilize "Advanced Search" before posting and then we won't have to merge threads*

RAV TUX

January 11th, 2007, 03:06 AM

"Nah, I use http://www.zohowriter.com"
is indeed very very fast compared to the two other previous guys !

Looks much better !Ahhh found it.

maniacmusician

January 11th, 2007, 05:40 AM

*Utilize "Advanced Search" before posting and then we won't have to merge threads*
It's just a pet peeve of mine I guess;

by the way, i DID do a search. The thread that you "found" was actually about Writely, and patrick said that he preferred Zoho. That was one post about zoho, not a whole thread. Al three of these are seperate things, so I think it's a bit pointless to merge the threads.

Again, just a pet peeve of mine. Makes me really angry for no apparent reason. One of those little things I guess.

ice60

January 11th, 2007, 05:55 AM

i'd never use anything like this (i even anonymise google cookies lol), but i can see why people who don't care about privacy and anonymity might like these online things :)

ahmedhussain

January 11th, 2007, 08:47 AM

Hi maniacmusician,

Thanks for posting your feedbacks.

As for the issue regarding the middle click option in Firefox, we are exploring ways to find a solution for it. As a workaround you can "right-click" on the links and select "Check Link" to open the links in a new tab from the document editor OR press "Ctrl+left-click" on the link.

Meanwhile, in the preview mode you can avail the middle-click option to open links in new tab.

We are currently testing Zoho in Opera Browser and will announce the support for once we cover all the bases.

Ahmed
Zoho