If you’ve been watching the development of free online office suites but haven’t left your desk-top based product (e.g., Microsoft Office) yet, you’ll find Computerworld’s reviews of three popular online office suites instructive.  Office suites typically include at least word processing, spreadsheet, and presentation apps.

Three major competitors in the field — Google Docs, ThinkFree, and Zoho — have all made major moves in recent months, significantly improving the products by adding more applications, features, and functionality.

But how do they shape up against desktop suites like Microsoft Office, known primarily for Word, Excel and PowerPoint applications?

“While Google Docs, ThinkFree and Zoho vary in the breadth of the applications they offer, their features and their usability, they are all capable of doing real, useful work. They do what you expect of productivity apps — create documents, spreadsheets and presentations — in sophisticated fashion,” says reviewer David DeJean.  Developments in open source, AJAX, and browsers have helped online suites to compete.

A really big advantage is that all three are free and offer free storage space, as well. Since they work in a Web browser, they also work across different platforms.  It doesn’t matter whether you create, view, or use them with PCs, Mac’s, or a Linux box. Since they are designed with collaboration and sharing in mind, that is especially important.

Computerworld reviews the three online suites’ capabilities as word processors, spreadsheets, presentations, and how they “leverage the web.”  Each product has its strengths, although they have developed from different points of view.

There is no clear winner here, but the reviewer concludes, “Web-based productivity suites have made a transition. While at first they simply imitated desktop applications in a Web browser, the current versions add features that begin to integrate the social computing features of the Web. At the same time, they’ve begun to grow away from simply imitating Microsoft Office to developing personalities of their own.”  Check out the article for details.  [via Slashdot]

Listaculous to-do list
Listaculous is a free, tabbed to-do list manager that you can add to your web page or iGoogle start page.

Keep track of all your tasks and lists in one place — accessible from anywhere on the Web. 

I was happy to add this to my iGoogle page since it seems to be simple and intuitive, as advertised, and I particularly like the tabbed presentation. 

It’s quick and easy to register, log-in, and use from any computer at any location via the web.

Logon to Zoho with your Yahoo or Google ID
It’s easy to get overwhelmed with login account so I was glad to see that popular office productivity suite, Zoho, has removed the need to create a separate account to use their services.  Now you can now log in to any of their products using a Google or Yahoo account. 

Zoho plans to adopt OpenID eventually, but in the meantime they wanted to integrate directly with the most requested third parties.  Their goal is to get users to try Zoho with as little hassle as possible.  They may integrate with others such as Microsoft and Facebook in the future.

Powerset search engine with Wikipedia
Is Powerset  a “natural language” search engine?  Maybe not exactly, but Search Engine Land says it is at least an “understanding engine.”  “Because it actually understands what pages are about, it can extract facts from those pages plus comprehend how those facts — as well as those pages — relate to each other.”

You can use Powerset to search Wikipedia now.  It claims to give you better results than Wikipedia’s or Google’s search because Powerset’s technology has read and understood what every word within Wikipedia actually means. 

I don’t know what your experience will be like, but I read about Powerset a couple of days ago when I was also trying to dig some information out of Wikipedia. 

I had limited knowledge of what terminology the subject might use so was finding it difficult to come up with relevant search terms.  I had already explored using both Google and Wikipedia search engines, and then tried Powerset.  Better results!  Once I found a relevant article, I was able to identify good key words that improved my search results outside of Wikipedia, too.

Last December, Google Gears was named one of the most innovative tech products of the year by PC World.  Google Gears makes online apps available to you when you are offline, with the added benefit of allowing you to synchronize changes when you are back online.  Maybe, like me, you downloaded Gears when it became available and used it for a few well-known applications such as Google Reader and Google Docs. 

You might also have discovered Gears makes online apps more useful to you - by making them available to you offline - if you use Zoho Writer or task manager Remeber the Milk.

Google Operating System Blog lists some other lesser known applications.

PassPack is an online password manager whose offline version allows you to download data from your PassPack account and access and manage it whenever you wish.  You can make changes and save them locally, then synchronize the online and offline accounts using the backup and restore functions.

Similarly, Autodesk Labs Project Draw lets you create diagrams online, run them offline and later sync your files.

MindMeister, an online mind mapping system we have mentioned here before, can be used offline with Google Gears, then synched later.

Buxfer is a personal finance manager previously unknown to me.  It added Gears support in January 2008.  The application has the option to store authentication information offline.  “You will have the convenience of not needing to login into your financial institution repeatedly, as well as the peace of mind that your private information is secure and completely under your control!”

Picasa Web Albums Mobile (photo sharing) recently got Gears support for Windows Mobile 6 touchscreen devices.  You can view photo albums offline.

The new update to Zoho Writer includes DocX support, thesaurus (in 10 languages), sharing with groups, enhanced endnotes/footnotes, and enhanced headers/footers.

Previous updates include pagination, headers & footers, headnotes & footnores, and offline support.   Check the Zoho Writer blog for more information.

TechCrunch reports that Writer users have increased 30 percent since last November, with 2 million user sessions per month although usage still trails Google Docs, and of course, Microsoft Word.

In a recent survey, points out Joe Wilcox at Microsoft Watch, the NPD Group asked nearly 600 PC users: “Have you heard about online, browser-based office productivity applications like Google Docs, Google Spreadsheets, gOffice, etc.?”  NPD also asked, “If so, how often do you use them?”

Ninety-four percent of U.S. consumers have never heard of Web-based productivity suite alternatives, and only 0.5 percent have substituted Web-based productivity suites for desktop software such as Microsoft Office.

“The survey results show not only that SAAS [Software as a Service] firms have a long way to go to build brand awareness and trust among PC users. but it points to how powerful the Office brand still is, and how difficult it will probably be for most of these firms to dislodge huge swaths of Office users from the grips of Microsoft,” said Chris Swenson at NPD.

Ars Technica offers some reasons for the so far limited success of online office suites including their lack of visibility, the newness of the industry with not quite fully matured products, and the fact that they mostly target business and education, not the type of consumer that was surveyed.

I would also mention habit and familiarity for the individual consumer who may long have had a Microsoft desktop office suite available at home and/or at work.  I tend to keep on using my desktop products even though I am very aware of the online alternatives and have played around with them.  However, when I find that the online alternatives can offer me desirable features only available to me if I upgraded my Microsoft Office, I would make a switch.  If I often needed to collaborate on documents right now, I would also be ready to move to an online suite.

As we have mentioned here before Google Docs, Google Apps, Zoho, and ThinkFree, are among the web-based services available, while OpenOffice.org  and IBM Lotus Symphony are free downloads.

 In August, Zoho made its Writer software available offline.  At the time the documents were available in read-only mode when offline.  Now Zoho has announced, you’ll be able to both view and edit your documents offline, using Google’s open source project Google Gears.

You’ll need to have Google Gears plug-in installed on your browser (quick and easy).  It works on Firefox 1.5+ and IE 6+.

“Click on ‘Go Offline’ to access your documents offline.  By default, we download 15 documents each from ‘My Docs’ and ‘Shared Docs’ section.  You can change the default setting by clicking on the down arrow beside ‘Go Offline’ link.  The documents are downloaded based on the ‘Sort Order’ in your ‘My Docs’ section,” advises Raju Vegesna at Zoho.

When you are not connected to the internet, there is a link where you can access and edit your documents offline.  When you are back online, clicking on ‘Go Online’ will let you to synchronize the modified documents with the online versions.

Not all online functionalities are available in offline mode because some are online specific, while others will make their way into the offline mode in the future.

Take a look at the video to see how it works. 

Check out the slideshow from eWeek, 10 things you should know about Microsoft Office alternatives, that will help you think through alternatives to moving to Microsoft Office’s next release.  You may be able to cut costs with alternatives such as StarOffice 8, or freebies like OpenOffice.org 2.3 or Google Docs, but you should be aware of the issues. 

Some of the considerations explored are document conversion, email clients, macro tools, the cross-platform support offered by online programs, and a huge one for organizations:  training on a new software suite.

Want some reviews?
PC Magazine on OpenOffice.org 2.3, (Dec. 4, p.52)
3 1/2 stars.  Free download. 
Pros:  High compatibility with MS Office formats and interface, full-featured, exports PDF.
Cons: Dreary, overcomplicated interface, can’t open Office 2007 docs, can slow down some Windows systems. 
See a full review here.

PC Magazine on ThinkFree (Dec. 4, p.52)
ThinkFree Online.  Free.
3 stars.
Pros: Effortlessly opens almost any MS Office document. 1GB free storage online. 
Cons: Can be confusing, limited features, slightly buggy. 
See a full review here.

Others:
Google Docs 
Zoho
IBM Lotus Symphony (online)
and a comparison of Google Docs with Zoho.

Google Docs: Editors’ Choice
PC Magazine compared Google Docs with Zoho Suite and ThinkFree and found it “far more elegant, efficient, and enjoyable.”  Although it doesn’t offer a large feature set like some of its online rivals, PC Magazine gives it 4 1/2 “stars” and the PC Magazine Editors’ Choice award.

They find it loads quickly, provides an uncluttered, visually appealing interface, and you can get started quickly if you are logged into your Google account.  See the full review here.

Find Full Episodes Online with Find Internet TV
Search for and find episodes of your favorite missed television shows or web-based video content with web site Find Internet TV, a search portal that looks for current shows and can quickly tell you where to find them. 

“Its directory listing of full episodes available online is a nice starting point if you’ve missed an episode of a show and want to quickly find where the network makes their episodes available,” says Lifehacker. 

I did a couple of quick searches and didn’t come up with what I was looking for, but browsing in the “popular” category showed me lots and lots of sports program possibilities from all over the world, as well as myriad others.
 

Zoho Suite, Google Docs compared
If you have been considering a complete move from the desktop to an online office suite, you are aware that there are a number of options.  Two of the most known and/or developed are Google Docs and Zoho Suite.

They both have completely browser-based office apps such as a word processor and spreadsheet, ways to communicate with chat and email, and provide collaboration capabilities and tools like project managers and wikis.

Zoho tends to be business-oriented while Google Docs is a bit more consumer-oriented.  There are some differences in their features and user base.

This post by Lifehacker comparing the two includes a chart showing apps and features, and even has a place for you to vote for your favorite.

Google tries Snap on test search site
I’ve been using Snap for awhile.  It’s an Ajax-based technology that lets you preview blogs and websites when you hover your mouse over the link.  They now have a licensing agreement with Google’s test site, SearchMash.

Mashable says, “A few tweaks have been implemented, though, so that it can fit in better with Google’s purposes, user interface, etc. The look of the snap preview on SearchMash will more resemble Google, and it will also be using Adobe’s Flash technology instead of Snap’s Ajax. Unlike the roll-over affect you’re accustomed to, the Snap preview appears on the right hand side of the page, for web and image search results. This feature doesn’t seem to be fully activated just yet.”

Zoho has a new product out called Zoho DB & Reports.  The Zoho DB blog says that Zoho DB comes with a simple spreadsheet-like user interface from which you can create online databases and analyze your data using different views and charting tools.

Import a database from existing XLS/CSV/TSV files or create a blank database.  Once you have the data in the database, you can try different views such as Tabular View, Chart View, Pivot View, and Summary View from the ‘New’ button, then do visual analysis on the data in your database.

Data visualization is a special strength of the product.  The ‘Chart View’ option enables you to visualize your data in simple charts.  This complex functionality is simplified with a Drag-n-Drop interface.  The DB blog suggests that you have to play with it to really know the power of the feature. 

Another one of the unique features of Zoho DB, they suggest, is the ability to run SQL Queries of any dialect on the data.  It understands SQL Queries/dialects from any of the supported databases which include Oracle, SQL Server, DB2, Sybase, MySQL, PostgreSQL, Informix and ANSI SQL.

Of course, like other Zoho products, the new DB & Reports has several options for sharing, whether you are collaborating within the Zoho workspace with other Zoho users, or embedding the finished charts into external websites and blogs.

See Zoho DB & Reports in action in the video at the bottom of the DB blog post.  [via Wired Blog Network]