Over the past couple of years, Microsoft's online office strategy has grown increasingly muddled, while Google has emerged has the clear leader in the web office space with their Google Docs product. Microsoft has been reluctant to cannibalize any of its cash cow desktop office software business by introducing a web-based version of its popular Office suite. Instead, Redmond has been trying to complement its desktop offering with web services. The latest attempt is codenamed "Albany."
Keeping up with multiple calendars can be hard. Many people have one for work, with details on important meetings, phone calls, and to-do's, and another for the family, with the kids' activities, personal errands, and family whereabouts. Online calendars have made it easier to access all your different calendars on the web from anywhere you have an internet connection, but frequent travelers and business users still needed an offline version, like enterprise-friendly Microsoft Outlook. And while software like Outlook now includes a feature that allows you to subscribe to internet calendars, you may not be utilizing that option since your personal calendar contains some items you wouldn't wanted synced to your work computer.
Cloud database app, Blist, has recently added some new features to their online tool, including a social network built around Blist users and the databases they create, as well as features that make the online database application even easier to use than before, like the ability to import CSV data or share databases with friends.
These days, it seems everyone has an opinion about how to deal with information overload, especially when it comes to email management. There are numerous methodologies, best practices, tips, and tutorials available, but are any of them really effective? We'll explore that question as we delve into the top five email management methodologies.
Last month we featured online project management software from LiquidPlanner, but if that wasn't for you then you may be interested in an alternative SaaS from a company called Clarizen. The Clarizen project management software came out of stealth mode last year and has now just launched a new version with additional features. The latest version, Clarizen v 2.0, will be demoed at tomorrow's "Under the Radar Conference," an event held on Microsoft's campus whose current theme is "The Business of Web Apps: Where the Web Goes to Work."
Slideshare is growing and may even have become the leading pure play online presentations app [Update: Zoli Erdos points out in the comments that Slideshare doesn't allow you to create online presentations, only share them - which is a key point that I forgot to mention initially]. Two years ago I lamented the shortage of 'online powerpoint' services and noted that it was a product category "up for grabs" in the Web Office market. But now it is flourishing - Web Office leaders Google and Zoho both have good online slideshow offerings and there is no shortage of other startups doing it. But Slideshare is the service that is grabbing attention, perhaps due to its focus on sharing and community.
If your team is spread out over a wide geographic region, online collaboration tools are key to getting everyone on the same page. Something that dispersed teams haven't had much opportunity to use use are whiteboards, which can be really useful in brainstorming sessions. But now, with Twiddla, this year's winner of the Technical Achievement award at SXSW, comes a team whiteboarding service that offers a no-setup, online meeting web site for team collaboration.
Today's winning comment comes from our feature-by-feature comparison of Office Live Workspace and Google Docs. In the post Sarah Perez concluded that "Google Docs, although limited in its capabilities, offers real-time collaboration", while "Office Live Workspace [...] may not have the collaboration features of Google Docs, but the workspaces feature is unique." As usual when we compare Google with Microsoft office products, the discussion was feisty. Jrome's comment stood out though: he pointed to a compelling feature in Google Docs called GoogleLookUp. He explains below:
Today, Microsoft announced that the Office Live Workspace beta is publicly available for everyone to access. The site, a free web-based extension of Microsoft Office, lets you access your documents online and share your work with others. Some say that the service's launch is a direct response to Google's entry into the web office space with their Google Docs online service. If that's so, then the question now is: did Microsoft just trump Google Docs? Or does Google Docs still rule online office suites?
Zoho Writer, part of the online Zoho office suite, was updated this morning to include some new features that users have been asking for. These new additions, which include support for the DocX file format, a thesaurus, a "sharing with groups" feature, and enhancements to headers/footers and endnotes/footnotes, bring Zoho Writer that much closer to being a viable alternative to desktop software.
