AjaxWrite—a simple word processor
that sports a clean, minimalist interface—was the first module I tried. I attempted
to load the test document, then waited.
And waited. Then waited some more. After
about 10 minutes of watching an animated
loading screen that resembled a history of
Google’s stock price, I cancelled the import
and moved to the ajaxPresents module. Not
much luck here either: The program spit out
an error message each time I tried to load
the sample PowerPoint document. Hoping
that the third time was the charm, I turned
to the ajaXLS spreadsheet viewer, only to be blocked by a frozen dialog box.
To be fair, these Ajax13 applications—like
all the other products in this comparison—
are beta software. The Ajax13 suite does
have some laudable features, namely clean
interface design, fast core-application load
times, and a well-populated user forum.
However, these few positive features can’t
make up for some crippling bugs, curious
feature omissions, bizarre load and save dialogs,
and a general lack of stability. Ajax13
might be fine for Web-focused hobbyists who have use for some of its more esoteric
features, but anyone else should give this
online office suite a wide berth and look
elsewhere.
Are the Days of
Microsoft Office
Numbered?
Can competing online office suites truly
replace the ubiquitous Microsoft Office? If
you’re an IT manager at a medium to large
enterprise, the answer is a definitive no. As
promising as these applications are, they
lack the depth of content, robust security
features, and massive support infrastructure
that midsized-to-large enterprises need.
Because ThinkFree Premium comes closest
to reaching those goals for light-duty
business use, I’ve designated it my Editor’s
Choice. (But don’t count out Zoho and
Google: At their current rate of development,
both the Zoho office suite and Google
Docs might have launched more updates
and improvements to their products by
the time you read this.) Only ThinkFree
Premium, Google Docs, and the Zoho suite
were able to load and allow editing of all
three sample documents. Ajax13 and gOFFICE
are outmatched in nearly every category
in this comparison.
For small-business and personal use,
the best online office suites in this comparison
can be attractive solutions. As
an alternative, IT pros running on a tight application budget—or those who prefer
to keep their office applications offline and
local—might take a look at the open-source
alternatives to Microsoft Office: OpenOffice.
org, IBM Lotus Symphony, and Sun
Microsystems’ StarOffice. Each is based on
the OpenOffice.org code base, and most
provide the bulk of the features that Office does at no cost. (A StarOffice license costs
$69.95 per user, who can install that software
on 5 machines.)
Whether we’re discussing online Office
workalikes or products like OpenOffice.org,
it’s clear that there are now more options
for business desktop applications than ever
before. Microsoft Office still dominates the
market, but changes are coming. Office Live
Workspace might be a passable stopgap for
Office users who want to share documents
online, but Microsoft clearly needs to do a
better job of integrating the existing Microsoft
Office suite with the Internet. The days
of Microsoft ruling the desktop application
market virtually unopposed are over. We’ve
seen only the opening skirmishes of what
will undoubtedly be a long battle over how
people should create, edit, and share documents
between computers and across the
Internet. The ensuing competition will not
only be entertaining to watch but will also
signify that consumers have more products
and solutions to choose from—and that’s
always good news.