New Microsoft Office competitors from Zoho and Zooos
</p><p><br /><br />The third annual <a href="http://www.office20.com/index.jspa">Office 2.0 conference</a> opens today. It's the show where people talk about getting real work done on the Web. There will be no <a href="http://www.demo.com/demonstrators/demo2006/63006.html">robotic ice cream machines</a> or <a href="http://www.techcrunch50.com/2007/presenter.php?presenter=38">soft-core porn startups</a>. Once again, I'm looking forward to hearing what's new in the world of Work 2.0. First up are two productivity suites, one coming out today from the hyperactive Zoho and another from a company you've probably not heard of, Zooos.<br /></p><img class="cnet-image" src="http://i.i.com.com/cnwk.1d/i/bto/20080903/zohodoc-logo.jpg" alt="" width="150" height="38" /><p><br /><br /><a href="http://docs.zoho.com">Zoho Docs:</a> The online productivity suite is out of beta and open to all. We continue to point to this app as a prime example of how much productive work can really be done on the Web, without requiring downloadable software.<br /></p><p><br /><br /><br />New for Zoho users, Zoho Docs integrates the main Zoho applications, and all your online data files, into one application. So like <a href="http://docs.google.com">Google Docs</a>, it's a launcher and a file system, but unlike Google the files can actually be opened up in the Docs window, which makes for a somewhat simpler experience than Google, which opens docs in new browser windows or tabs.<br /></p><p><br /><br /><br />It's a good evolution of Zoho's product set. <br /></p><p><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://www.zooos.com">Zooos:</a> This is a very interesting development: It's a port to the Web of Sun's <a href="http://www.openoffice.org/">Open Office</a>, a desktop productivity suite. And it has some clever tricks that even Sun doesn't support.<br /></p><img class="cnet-image" src="http://i.i.com.com/cnwk.1d/i/bto/20080903/zooos-logo.jpg" alt="" width="150" height="57" /><p><br /><br /><br />In addition to having the main Open Office apps, Zooos also has real-time collaboration, almost exactly like Google Docs does (Zooos doesn't let two users change text in the same paragraph in a word doc at the same time, although other than that it does let them edit the same document simultaneously). <br /></p><p><br /><br /><br />Support for offline support (and syncing documents to the desktop) comes via a small browser plugin (Firefox and Safari at launch; Internet Explorer to trail; Chrome unknown). And Zooos has a clever file management system. In addition to offering the usual suite-specific storage service, users can also access documents on their local PCs, in Box.net accounts, FTP servers, and even YouTube and Picassa Web accounts. All these show up as folders. <br /></p><p><br /><br /><br />Since Zooos runs on servers, and doesn't require much on local machines other than a browser, it's also a decent solution for mobile users; most smartphones with browsers should be able to run the company's mobile-specific Web services, and be able to use all the Zooos apps.<br /></p><p><br /><br /><br /><br />Zooos will run its own server farm so users can try out the suite over the Web, but the real business is selling software for companies to install on their own servers - so businesses can take advantage of cloud services without putting their employees' data on some other company's machines. The service will cost $999 a year for 10 users, with significant price breaks for more users and for extensions to the subscription after the first year. CEO Hishan El-Eman told me he hopes to launch the product in October.<br /><br /></p><br /><br /><img class="cnet-image" src="http://i.i.com.com/cnwk.1d/i/bto/20080903/zooos-main_540x399.jpg" alt="" width="540" height="399" /><p class="image-caption">The Zooos system gives you access to Web version of Open Office apps, as well as a very flexible file storage system.</p><br /><br /><br /><p><br /><br /><br />Related: <br /><br /><a title="Office Live, you're no Google Docs -- Wednesday, Sep 3, 2008" href="http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10032096-2.html" >If you're looking for another online office suite, skip Microsoft</a>. <br /><br /><a title="The love of work: Office 2.0 -- Thursday, Aug 7, 2008" href="http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10011014-2.html" >The love of work: Office 2.0</a>.<br /></p><br /><a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/webware?a=LxS4oL"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/webware?i=LxS4oL" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/webware?a=K6Kjal"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/webware?i=K6Kjal" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/webware?a=3gixEl"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/webware?i=3gixEl" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/webware?a=RJflcl"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/webware?i=RJflcl" border="0"></img></a><br /><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/webware/~4/383237066" height="1" width="1"/>
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