Investigating Online Office Suites

jcatcw writes "Computerworld reviewed four online office suites — Ajax13, Google Docs & Spreadsheets, ThinkFree Online and Zoho Office Suite. None has all the applications and features of Microsoft Office, but if you're looking for the core office applications in an access-anywhere format, at least two were surprisingly sophisticated. The article weighs the ability to save files to a centralized server quite heavily in its ranking. The winner is ThinkFree Office because it provides the most sophisticated features and has the best Microsoft Office compatibility. Zoho's suite is the second choice."

Comments

Doesn't Matter

[jkiol]

I still prefer emacs *Awaits bashing from VI users*

Google Docs and Spreadsheets

[klenwell]

I've been satisfied with Google D&S, mostly because it's now well integrated (bundled?) with my Gmail account. Then I tried to print a hard copy of a Google Doc for the first time yesterday. Now I'm less impressed. (Google's definition of a 'pt' and Word's are way off.)

Still, the sharing feature is cool. But the Gmail integration is the main reason I'm loathe to try any alternatives.

Unwise to use them for confidential data

[davidwr]

It's very unwise to use a hosted-server solution to store confidential or private data unless it's encrypted and you hold the only keys or you've got a contractual agreement that the hosts will never look at the data absent a court order and that they are liable if an adversary breaks in for any reason other than your negligence.

Keep this in mind when you use services to create or save documents. It doesn't matter if it's a spreadsheet, email, or what-not.

And for heaven's sake don't store my credit-card number on Google. CowboyNeal's maybe but not mine.