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.
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8:50 AM PT
Google + Sun StarOffice collaboration announced today at 10:30am?
Sometimes sitting back, waiting to see what others say about big rumours is a sound strategy. Some of these big announcements turn out to be more hype than ripe.
Yesterday and today the biggest tech rumours are over heavyweights Sun and Google today…
2:12 PM PT
Om Says NewsGator Buying NetNewsWire
Om Malik posts that his sources tell him that NewsGator is going to annouce a deal to buy Ranchero Software, the makers of NetNewsWire. As Om says, NNW is the RSS reader of choice for Mac users. And like Om,…
6:10 AM PT
[...] I want to follow-up on yesterday’s (multi-part) post about synchronous document editing on the Web by pointing to this post at Om Malik’s Broadband Blog. He wonders if the writing world is really ready for all of these web-based writing tools–particularly given some users’ (himself included) discomfort with writing in a browser. I must admit I can sort of relate (Shameful Little Secret: While writing online isn’t so much of a problem for me, I still have trouble reading on a computer screen. Sometimes. . .I even print articles/webpages/etc. Ahhhh, it feels so good to get that off my chest ) [...]
9:24 AM PT
Zimbra’s email worth a look
There is a lot of hype being generated by this Web 2.0 conference, and for starters there are way to many collaboration tools hitting the market. So we will remain skeptical, with Om, but at the same time try to point out notable features that add some…
9:54 AM PT
Other News Worth Noting
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10:13 PM PT
Web 2.0 Frees Me While Limiting Me
Wherein I claim that Web 2.0 makes my data less accessible while providing me with more freedom. Dion Hinchcliffe’s post The Best Web 2. 0 Software of 2005 got me thinking about how these offerings have changed the way I
8 comments so far
7:48 AM PT
Slashdot are also getting excited: (link)
10:49 AM PT
Does any site have a live journal(like macworld’s) of this event? The webcast seems to be down…
11:19 AM PT
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:
(link)
12:13 PM PT
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?
1:26 PM PT
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.
5:47 PM PT
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
10:17 PM PT
Security is definitely a concern, but accessibility is also a point of caution for me as I talk about:
(link)
3:56 AM PT
Totally aggree with you, well said
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