Web writing tools are coming in thick and fast – it all started with Writely, and was soon followed by the JotLive, Zoho Writer, and more recently Writeboard. Ross Mayfield today is pointing to Synchroedit, a collaborative tool for editing over the web. There is a lot of talk about webified Google Office suite, and well what not. All these tools, while good, basically seek a behavioral change on part of the consumer. The assume the early adopter desire to type in the browser translates into a mass market. I agree with Michael Bazley when he wonders, “whether there was a big enough marketplace for the new breed of quick and easy, wiki-ish document-sharing apps.” I write for a living, and have never gotten comfortable with the idea of typing in a browser, which still is a work in progress. I use tools like DevonPro, Mac Journal, Note Taker and xPad, and on occasion Microsoft Word. When blogging I use Ecto or MarsEdit, even thought I could use the type-in-broswer features of Word Press. They all give me one thing: a sense of security that the document won’t vanish into the big ether. The web apps so far cannot offer that assurance. Also a really big web app list.
Slashdot are also getting excited: http://slashdot.org/articles/05/10/04/1234229.shtml?tid=102&tid=217
Does any site have a live journal(like macworld’s) of this event? The webcast seems to be down…
I think these tools at present would only really appeal to business intranet uses and the only way to make the tool more appealing than Office is to have it integrated with a Content Mangement System. That’s why watching the development of tools such as Kupu is more interesting:
http://kupu.oscom.org/
Its nice that Michael Bazley writes with tools that he himself chooses (e.g., “me, myself and I”). But isn’t he missing the point of collaborative editing in a world where group collaboration is needed, in a world where synergy is more powerful than the thinking of one person?
One major difference with SynchroEdit that is being missed, is that it is being developed as open source, with an open protocol, and good developer documentation.
This means that when it is released, it can be used by a variety of web services, and since it is an open protocol, dedicated applications can also take advantage of its features.
Hi Om:
GMail’s Autosave feature just changed your worry. I think it is a simple but big step forward for Google to think in terms of browser based apps.
Cheers,
Suhit
Security is definitely a concern, but accessibility is also a point of caution for me as I talk about:
http://brentblog.typepad.com/brentblog/2005/12/web_20_frees_me.html
Totally aggree with you, well said