ThinkFree Online Review 148
ThinSkin writes "ThinkFree Online is, simply put, Office without the Microsoft, a collection of free online apps that support and contain most features found in Word, PowerPoint, and Excel. ThinkFree has just released a major upgrade to its features, bumping its online storage to 1GB for each user and adding a lightweight AJAX-based collaboration feature. ExtremeTech has an interesting review of ThinkFree Online's applications and features which reveals a lot to like about this improved webware and, while it may have its occasional quirks, can be great for those who want to edit and create documents on the fly."
Looks very nice (Score:2, Insightful)
Even with today's high-speed connections, it is definitely faster to edit a document from a web interface compared to downloading and installin
Yes but... (Score:1)
*sulk*
Re:Looks very nice (Score:2)
Re:Looks very nice (Score:5, Insightful)
"The web site will be unavailable from 3:00AM to 7:00AM PDT on April 25"
this is exactly the kind of thing why web apps won't replace desktop ones.
Re:Looks very nice (Score:2)
Re:Looks very nice (Score:3, Insightful)
The GP has a point - a large business would be mad to trust their core business applications to a third party with so [slashdot.org] many [mit.edu] potential points of failure.
Re:Looks very nice (Score:1)
Re:Looks very nice (Score:2)
In any event, the issue isn't whether it's natural for a new web service to have outages, it's whether anyone wants to switch to using a word processor that even has the potential for scheduled downtime. Can you imagine if Microsoft forced people to upgrade their copies of Word at a specific time based on the developers' schedule rather than allowing customers to apply patches at a convenient time?
Re:Looks very nice (Score:4, Insightful)
AJAX is still, in general, a nascent technology relative to industry-standard technologies. And if you're saying "web apps won't replace desktop ones soon" then I agree with you. But I don't agree that web apps won't replace desktop ones ever.
Given time to let both the internet continue to mature (the electricity grid is still more stable than the web) and to let web app companies mature, I think that web-based computing is not just possible - it's an inevitability.
-stormin
Re:Looks very nice (Score:2)
The electricity boards aint perfect, but you can be reasonably sure that they'll exist 2 years from now, will not be bought over by Microsoft/Oracle/$bigcompany, the prices will remain relatively stable, and will not be ddosed into submission by random skript-kiddies.
Ajax-based office suites are a farce. I can see some benefit in app
Re:Looks very nice (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Looks very nice (Score:2)
Re:Looks very nice (Score:2)
Re:Looks very nice (Score:2)
Thanks. Now I don't have to post. I am anyway, however, because your post made me chuckle.
-stormin
Re:Looks very nice (Score:2)
Well... except there are ways to build redundancy into applications that have that same fail-over property as power systems. While the average small business doesn't bother to implement these fail-over designs, large infrastructure companies do, or at least sh
Re:Looks very nice (Score:3, Insightful)
Thin client platforms have come and gone; they made sense in an era where clients were not powerful enough, client software was terribly expensive(Do you know what an Unix license used to cost in those days?).
People ha
Re:Looks very nice (Score:2)
There's this constant ongoing discussion. Should computers be as easy to use as dishwashers, cars, and lawnmowers, or should users just learn to operate computers? Personally, I fall decisively in the camp that computers need to be more consumer friendly - or at least that consumers need to have access to the benefits
Re:Looks very nice (Score:2)
It [any Ajax based office suite] may work for purely network-based apps such as email/IM, but falls apart very quickly for UI-intensive apps.
Why do you say this? I don't understand. This msg is not a troll.
The user interface on an Ajax app can be completely encapsulated by the client's browser and local programming-- there is nothing in the (G)UI that requires the client to contact the server. My understanding is that this is the way it is normally done. Typical office apps-- word processing, spreadshe
ZOMG!!! (Score:1)
Okay, so way over the top for us, but have you really never had to tell a friend/cow-worker/whom-ever that 'in order to get rid of that blue screen and get their mouse back, for the short term, they need to just turn the computer off, "push the button in front" and turn it back on, then call you back if it does the same thing'?
How exactly is this different for the average user? Yes, we
Re:Looks very nice (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Looks very nice (Score:2, Interesting)
Your documnet, Ransomed (Score:3, Insightful)
Oh you might have laws and agreements that are supposed to constrain them but employees can act badly. Possestion is 9/10ths of the law.
Comment removed (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Looks very nice (Score:3, Informative)
That's what a visuall
Re:Looks very nice (Score:3, Insightful)
Check the actual app out (in 2 1/2 hours) (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Check the actual app out (in 2 1/2 hours) (Score:2)
WHEN you get to look, look for lock-in (Score:2)
Personally, I like my work to be mine, or to be free to give to anyone I want to donate that work to, regardless of what technology they can afford. It's my work, and I should be able to say what can be done with it.
Unless this thing lets me save my w
Re:WHEN you get to look, look for lock-in (Score:3, Insightful)
Online apps suck (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Online apps suck (Score:2)
I doubt it. I agree that there's no way I could convince my business to switch to this instead of MS Office. And I wouldn't want to try. But your stability and privacy concerns are entirely addressable. Companies don't refuse to use lightbulbs just because they have to depend on 3rd parties to supply the electricity, and eventually they won't refuse to use applications just because they have to depend on 3rd parties to supply the computational horsepower.
Web apps will never, in my opinion, replace
Re:Online apps suck (Score:1, Insightful)
Re:Online apps suck (Score:2)
The trouble is that people always see this as an eith
Re:Online apps suck (Score:2)
If this could be purchased for use on an intranet, it could be extremly handy. A thin client could be made much more powerful.
Re:Online apps suck (Score:1)
Good point. An application like this one delivers big bucks to an IT department. No desktop applications to update and keep patched. Every time a new version is out everyone has access simultaneously. An appliance would be much, much cheaper than MS Office which has a featureset that no one on this planet has come close to exploiting. 80% of office (both senses) users would be satisfied with the level of funtionality described in the article.
Privacy will be an issue for business users. No educated user wou
Re:Online apps suck (Score:2)
Thing is, it runs on one server.
BTW site is not "slashdotted", that site was taken down 7-10 days ago which I can't remember exactly. I use Papyrus Office on my OS X but I follow thinkfree since its 1.0 version which made people "shock" since it was running in browser with MS JVM. I like/love "software as service" idea and I think it is even a bit late we don't see more stuff
Re:Online apps suck (Score:2)
It wouldn't be impossible to have a barebones client for laptops that lets you work offline, and then sync the changes later.
Re:Online apps suck (Score:1)
Jeremy
Re:Online apps suck - Stats Canada (Score:2)
About time.. (Score:1)
I'm tired of seeing projects on the web that worked perfect earlier pumped full with useless AJAX features just because thye can.
If works as good as it looks I will definitely try this out!
Re:About time.. (Score:3, Informative)
Unfortunately, it also uses java - from the article:
According to this newsforge review [newsforge.com] last year it was a downloadable java app, rather then a webapp.
Re:About time.. (Score:2, Insightful)
Trying to create anything as complex as an office suite with a clientside interpreted language, and html + browser as graphical toolkit is just plain stupid, imo. ThinkFree got the message, and used the right tools to do the job.
slashvertisement... (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:slashvertisement... (Score:2)
Re:slashvertisement... (Score:2)
Result: I was banned big time as they thought I must be a spammer.
At least nobody will ban slashdot.
Open your eyes, it is an office program running in browser, "software as service". It also means Java delivers while
It is news.. For peo
Re:slashvertisement... (Score:2)
Some guy sent slashdot a link to his own website so he could make money from advertisements.
Web Based Application (Score:5, Insightful)
Seeing as how Microsoft Office is faster compared to slim the competition, who wants to waste time with downloading online applications for home use? If you're on the road and need some documents stored on a central server you can easily use gdrive to store it. It just seems that everyone can't wait to have their entire computers stored by some big information gathering company.
Just my
Re:Web Based Application (Score:1)
Re:Web Based Application (Score:2, Insightful)
Can I be second on your list?
Also, think about my position, I work nights and goto school during the day. Work doesn't mind if I work on my homework at nights, so long as it doesn't interfere with my job. This is rare. So the only limit is I cannot leave my desk to go work on my homework at some other terminal. So my options are limited to HPUXv11 and Mozilla/Firefox. I have 0 write capabilities for what it's worth, ie
Re:Web Based Application (Score:2)
Re:Web Based Application (Score:2)
Re:Web Based Application (Score:3, Insightful)
My main two points were that:
A: There are security implications involved with using web applications. Theoretically, a cracker, marketing firm, or government intent on getting access to personal documents would only have to gain access to a single server (or cl
Re:Web Based Application (Score:5, Insightful)
A: There are security implications involved with using web applications.
You get these security implications anyway, the instant you hook a computer up to the net. Spyware. Adware.
Moving things onto the web stifles innovation.
Well, the difference between innovation and invention is up to the market. The key though is that users are not competent to administer their own machines; nor are the administrators in most small businesses. Given a trend towards smaller, more ubiquitous, more networked computing, you can imagine a world of stateless workstations with anything of value scrutinized, armored, and backed up by a professional datacenter staff.
I know people who, if they want to know what their web site looked like last November, just go to archive.org because it's convenient. If you never backed it up, it'd be a life saver.
Re:Web Based Application (Score:2)
Yes but when I store my apps and documents on my PC I control the risk involved. It may be moot when speaking of the general mass market but for me and other security conscious users the effect of taking my apps and data online is that I have to worry that the vendor/provider is as security conscious as I am.
I use both Linux and Windows. I *can* keep a Windows box secured. It takes some effort (as does
Re:Web Based Application (Score:3, Informative)
Java applet versions of NoMachine's NX, for example, give you Citrix-like experience over-the-web. Web hosted e-mail means that once you train your users the only "downtimes" you experience are connection problems.
Just because you don't want to host all your companies documents on ThinkFree.Com doesn't mean that it isn't a good idea to keep (at least one versio
Re:Web Based Application (Score:2)
Re:Web Based Application (Score:2)
That is true, to an extent, but the point I was trying (and perhaps failed) to make was that with a centeralized system it becomes much easier.
Traditionally, if you wanted a users documents, you needed to do two things: You needed to somehow compromise that users computer, and then once the computer is compromised, you need to locate relevant documents for retreval. Now, for someone who is a talent
Re:Web Based Application (Score:3, Interesting)
There is also an issue of trust here. It is much easier to "sandbox" your home computer. I still know people who keep their home office PC off of the Internet so that they don't get distracted. If they
Re:Web Based Application (Score:2)
Re:Web Based Application (Score:1)
And to clarify for the others:
Re:Web Based Application (Score:2)
There are security implications to installing closed-source code that you cannot audit, such as the Microsoft Office line of software, on your computer.
Further, there are security implications to installing dozens of different pieces of software on your computer which you can't possibly keep fully up to date at all times unless you make it a full-time job. With web-based software, the developer can keep the software up to date complet
Re:Web Based Application (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Web Based Application (Score:1)
JA-VA !!!
It must be good.
Accessing email everywhere (Score:2)
Re:Web Based Application (Score:2)
Easy access is exactly the appeal of it. Right now, my gmail account has a bunch of 'drafts' that actually store some ideas I've had at home and at work. I've written psuedo-code for some Lightwave scripts I plan on writing down the road. (You never know when inspiration hits you.) I've heard of people workin
Re:Web Based Application (Score:2)
For medium to large-ish corporations, there might be some advantage in deploying something like this in-house though.
You have one point for backup (which could happen already relatively easily), but you also gain an easy point of upgrade to all of your clients (corproate users), plus the price may be very competitive compared to MS Office for a corporate deployment, and
Re:Web Based Application (Score:3)
Presumably, data backup and redundancy, assuming these services have db replication and/or backup in place, that your average home user can't afford. Plus, free word processor, spreadsheet, and other office tools, no more Microsoft tax.
Re:True Benefits of Web Applications - Client Side (Score:2)
I love it! (Score:1, Interesting)
i simply cannot fathom having to install Office ever again unless it is for macro/VB integration.. and it definately leaves OpenOffice miles behind in terms of proper Office compatibility and change of workflow.
thank you thinkfree!
-Sj53
"The web site will be unavailable from ... (Score:3, Insightful)
is the wording on a banner currently appearing on the thinkfree [thinkfree.com] web site. Am I the only one feeling nervous about having my documents residing on an application service provider where their accessibility is beyond my control?
--
Code Quality: The Open Source Perspective [spinellis.gr] (Addison-Wesley 2006)
Re:"The web site will be unavailable from ... (Score:2)
I spent some time researching internet cafes recently. A surprising number of people transact a lot of business through webmail in internet cafes.
If you take a single use case: a job seeker emailing emploment agencies, they are going to want to have their resume in a rich text format and available from their desktop, wherever it is.
On the desktop email is
RTF? Yeah sure. (Score:2)
Then unix2dos it (or whatever utility does the conversion).
Name the file "My CV.rtf"
Send it to the employment agencies.
I have been gainfully employed for many years and my CV has never been sent back.
Re:RTF? Yeah sure. (Score:2)
I do my resume in OO.o and recently when I applied for a job I exported it to PDF which I thought would go down as being really professional. The agency guy called me and said "your resume seems to be in some kind of adobe format can you send it again in word"
Maybe I should have used your rtf trick.
Re:"The web site will be unavailable from ... (Score:2)
The fact that they had to shut down the site for updates is an indication that they haven't solved the (difficult) problem of performing live software and hardware updates. This looks to me like a fundamental design constraint of their solution, rather than
What if... (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:What if... (Score:2)
-
Won't last once the Telcos tier the internet (Score:5, Insightful)
All it takes is a golf game between Gates and a few Telco CEO's, and suddenly ThinkFree has really really low bandwidth. Really low.
I don't know if this is threadjacking or having the insight to connect two apparently unrelated issues. I'll let the mods decide.
Re:Won't last once the Telcos tier the internet (Score:2)
More likely, Gates offers to pay a large fee for high-speed access to Windows and Office Live, and another fee to slow speeds to smaller, less capitalized startups who can match or exceed MS's innovation but not MS's deep pockets.
Worst. Idea. Ever. (Score:5, Insightful)
This is at least five million times worse because you don't even have the closed format documents yourself, they're stored on *their* webservers. They go down? You don't have your documents. They go out of business? You don't have your documents. They decide to cancel your account? You don't have your documents. Also, legally, are they even your documents? How does copyright enter into this, if you write something on their servers, which is stored on their servers, can you really claim exclusive ownership?
I cannot imagine a worse idea.
Hard drives are big these days, putting a word processor onto your computer is not difficult, nor even costly since OpenOffice is free. This system *will* go down, all systems do eventually, and when it does I will do nothing but laugh and say "I told you so, but you wouldn't listen" to the suckers who suddenly find their documents unavailable.
[1] Yes, I know OO.o can read Word format, currently. Who's to say what the next release will bring, no?
XML (Score:2)
New office format is based on XML. It may not be the Open Document Format (or whatever its called) version of XML, but it is XML and a published standard.
http://www.microsoft.com/office/xml/default.mspx [microsoft.com]
Re:Worst. Idea. Ever. (Score:2)
It's not a full replacement for Office - MS has actually been adding some nifty features like Office Communicator - but it's handy if you've got your resume on a USB key, and need to edit it when you're in the library.
-- Hamster
Thinkfree owners partying... (Score:2, Insightful)
You can't believe that joke for a not-so-popular poor java program. It was everywhere including mac download sites.
Joke? "If it is thinkfree, why it is not free?"
You would see thinkfree using people trying to explain what "think free" means endlessly.
I hope it finally ended... Oh wait, the downloadable version! OK, not giving further clue.
A gig of docs on the fly... (Score:2)
damn you slashdot (Score:2, Funny)
Re:damn you slashdot (Score:2)
Ummm (Score:1, Interesting)
What good is an unavailable word processor? (Score:4, Insightful)
The site says it's "unavailable from 3 a.m. to 7 a.m. on April 25th."
Well, it just so happen I need to do some work on this document soon. (Actually, of course, I should be working on it right now instead of reading Slashdot).
Guess what? Microsoft Word is available from 3 a.m. to 7 a.m. on April 25th.
years ago the same code was downloadable (Score:1)
I enjoyed it for more than one year before Apple's Pages appeared and was faster and as good.
Is it still the same ThinkFree Office? They don't have a downloadable version anymore?
(my old one still works well here)
Hervé
It all comes down to privacy (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:It all comes down to privacy (Score:2)
Great, at least until the network goes down (Score:1)
Getting things done at work is hard enough when the email or internet connection goes down, but there is still a lot we can do because we can use Office. However, if we did not have Office, but were relying on ThinkFree instead, whenever we (or ThinkFree) had network problems, we would be completely crippled. Now, it may seem like a good thing not to have any work to do, but sitting around for 8 hours doing busy work is mind-numbingly boring. ThinkFree was down for several days, and I'm sure with it being p
vim and tex (Score:2, Interesting)
I'm aware that there are non-geeks out there. My mom uses Word. My mom's net connection is also often flakey... what a dumb idea. Microsoft could pack it in someday, but, to be honest, this won't
"Office without the Microsoft" is a bit optimistic (Score:2)
It's Office without the macros, without the plugins, without the Exchange integration, without the underpinnings of COM. It's basically Office without the selling point. If I wanted a spreadsheet to be literally just a grid with formulae, life would be so easy. I don't, of course; I want it to reference other sheets, to populate itself with data from the database, to have the occasional button that makes stuff happen elsewhere on the sheet, to host third party libraries or controls, to do the stuff that
Most features eh... (Score:3, Insightful)
That's why reviews shouldn't be made by people who can't find the differences between WordPad and Word to save their life.
Hosting your own (Score:3, Informative)
Hosted, or with the option of implementing my own server. Hmmm...A Web 2.0 company doing it right.
Availability (Score:2, Interesting)
Radio Interview about ThinkFree (Score:2)
SUMPRODUCT (Score:2)
Compare to Free Email (Score:3, Informative)
We already have a pretty good idea what happens when a web-based technology competes with its desktop equivalent: email.
Yahoomail, gmail, et cetera compete with Microsoft Outlook & that ilk. Both types of email flourish, Fill-In-Your-Reasons-Here, each stealing some market from the other but also expanding the market.
Why would not a similar situation obtain with wordprocessings?
Yes, exactly (Score:2)
I use a wiki to do work in a similar fashion as this thinkfree business. I get wysiwig layout, great searchability and output to pdf whenever I need an emailable copy. Is is down much? The o