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GDocs vs. ThinkFree vs. Zoho vs. MS Office

Posted by timothy on from the probably-the-one-steel-cage-is-enough dept.

CWmike writes "Web-based productivity suites, once almost a contradiction in terms, have become real challengers to desktop applications. Google Docs, ThinkFree, and Zoho, have all made major improvements in recent months. They're becoming both broader, with more applications, and deeper, with more features and functionality in existing apps. The question is: Are these three applications really ready to take on a desktop-based heavy hitter like Microsoft Office?"

1 of 226 comments (clear)

  1. Not much need for MS office here... by tylersaurus · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    Microsoft Word: Not as useful as Latex, and too much of a pig for writing quick ideas. If I want to jot down ideas or write a short story or something informal, I will take TextEdit or Google Docs any day! There is no reason it should take 10 minutes for my word processor to load up. If I need to make a legitimate paper for a journal or symposium Latex is hands down the most superior.

    Excel: In general I have no use for spreadsheets. Occasionally I will take jobs where I will fill out time-sheets, and in general Excel works best with these since OO sometimes has some problems properly running the macros.

    Powerpoint: According to Edward Tufte this is totally useless anyways. I wish I could say that Latex's beamer is the superior choice... and for some people it might be. But I have never relied too much in a talk (I prefer to use handouts) and a lightweight WYSIWYG editor is nice to have. So Google wins on this one.

    All the other things in office like Groove: meh...

    I think the general public could easily phase out Microsoft Office, but it is pretty unlikely to happen.