We kick off Week 10 with a look at Online Productivity Software, which is a crafty way of saying online Office products. Back in the day, when it came to Word Processing, there was Microsoft Word and Works, Corel WordPerfect, and not much else! For Spreadsheets you had Microsoft Excel, Lotus 1-2-3, and FoxPro. And that was pretty much it for Productivity software. Aldus (now called Adobe) Pagemaker and Microsoft Publisher were late on the scene, and most database software was something for hardcore DB'ers, not your average office grunt. Then Microsoft decided to up the ante. While they may not have been the first company to do it, much like Windows, they were the first to make it popular. Microsoft Office changed how the world was run.
Microsoft Office was a "suite" of software designed to address the needs of Office grunts even before they knew what they needed. It included an E-Mail program (e-mail? Whats that?), spreadsheet, word processor, database software, and loads of clipart all in one package. And as it became apparent Microsoft Office was something the business world, Corel tried to hop on the bandwagon with their own suite called WordPerfect Office. But despite being the leader in Word Processing with their original WordPerfect (or WP for us computer gurus), Microsoft Office became King of Productivity Software suites.
But that was then, and this is now. Office 97, Office 2000, OfficeXP, Office 2003, and now Office 2007 have gotten more expensive, more elaborate, and have become more a Corporate suite than a package for average users. Their cheapest suite, Office Home and Student editions, are very meager offerings for the price you pay. So here comes the next Revolution: Online Office Productivity Software!
Google and Zoho offer their own Productivity Software right from their website. And whereas Microsoft and Corel charge a good deal of your hard-earned cash, these cost nothing more than the time it takes to set up an account! Whats more, both products (especially Zoho) offer nearly as much customizability and features as your $150 Office suite, as well as the ability to import documents saved in those antiquated file formats!
Don't get me wrong, Microsoft and Corel have age and experience going for them. Most of their products have few bugs, plenty of documentation, and a constant stream of fixes available through their respective publishers. Google and Zoho are new to the game, and for as brilliant as their coders may be, there are plenty of issues that need to be addressed. As much as I liked Zoho, the amount of trouble I had simply changing the font on my document to Arial was evidence of how new these programs are.
So which do I recommend? For now, I'd say Zoho. Their suite has a lot more to it, and the existing programs all seem more refined. However, Google is an Internet Juggernaut right now, and I wouldn't be at all surprised to see them snap up Zoho to bolster their own productivity suite. And I'm OK with that, because Google has something of a Midas Touch. Combining these two great suites could result in Microsoft Office finally having some serious competition!
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