But the time has come for small business owners to at least consider replacing Microsoft Office with one of the many “Web Office” suites that have sprung up in recent years. Among the vendors providing Office alternatives are Google, Zoho, ThinkFree, WebEx, Zimbra—not to mention Microsoft itself, which is in the process of moving its productivity apps online so as not to be left behind.
This week on SmartBiz, we’ll take an in-depth look at some of the most promising Web Office suites. We’ll examine how well they work, how much they cost and how difficult they are to manage.
|
What’s on My Web Desktop?
I’ve been increasingly moving my applications and documents off my desktop and onto the network. Read about more first-hand experiences—what works, what doesn’t, what feels right and what gives me a headache. |
I’ll also share my own attempts to move my applications off my desktop and into the “network cloud”—I’ll let you know what works for me and why. And I’ll ask you to share your own experiences with Web-based office applications.
By the end, I hope you’ll have a good feel for whether your small business can make the move to the Web for its office and productivity applications.
Let’s get started.
What is a ‘Web Office Suite’ Anyway?
No doubt you’re familiar with Microsoft Office. You’ve got Word for writing; PowerPoint for presentations; Excel for spreadsheets; Outlook for e-mail; Access for databases; Publisher for document creation; Notebook for note-taking; and more. In some versions (Office Professional) you get all these apps and more; in others, the app mix is more limited. Pricing also varies widely—from not much more than $100 for the Home and Student version to $400 and more for more featured versions. Put Office on a few desktops or across a small enterprise and the dollars start adding up—not to mention Microsoft loves to bring out new versions to drum up upgrade fees (Office 2007 hit the shelves earlier this year).
Web-based alternatives offer much of the same functionality—but with some key differences. First of all, they are almost always cheaper. Google Apps, for instance, are free in most cases. Other Web-based office suites are pay-as-you go, a few bucks a month at most for getting started. But there are some key differences as well. Most obviously, Web-based applications run from the Web. There’s no local software to install—but there’s also no software at all if your Internet connection goes down (with a few exceptions we’ll discuss later). Not only is there no application, but you’ll also lose access to all your documents. If you’re always online anyway, this may not seem a huge risk. But if your network connection is sketchy, you may need to think twice. But if you work on two computers—maybe one in the office and one at home—have a version of your most important applications and documents in both places may make any concerns secondary. It all depends on your setup and how you use office applications.
AJAX to the Rescue – Offline on the Horizon
Luckily, today’s Web office apps are much more than the glorified text editors you might imagine them to be. So-called AJAX technology makes working with a Web-based application very similar to using a desktop application. You get drag-and-drop, in-place formatting, interactive menus and more—everything you’d expect in a first-class application. Check out this screenshot of the formatting toolbar on Google Docs. Look familiar? It’s not too different from Microsoft Word, and it works the same too.
Vendors are also working on the problem of offline access to Web-based apps. What does that mean? With technology such as Google Gears, users can get access to their documents even when they are not online. The application simply synchs and stores a version on the user’s desktop for use when offline. This capability is still in its early stages but will go a long way toward making Web-based apps a more palatable alternative for more users—particularly those that need access away from the office or, for instance, on an airplane.
Follow the Story: Web Office Suites
Watch SmartBiz.com and this space as we roll out stories on Web office suites all week long, including:
Moving My Desktop Onto the Web
10 Steps to Move Your Office Apps to Google
The Startups: Zoho, Zimbra and More
AJAX Start Pages - More Choices
