Part 12 Free and Cheap Software for the SOHO Office

Google vs. Zoho vs. Microsoft vs. others on the Cloud

This list began years ago as a comparison between Google and Zoho, grew as Microsoft began offering its Office Web Apps, and also now includes some of the many web applications now available. Note that Microsoft’s Office Web Apps are designed to be used alongside their installed Office counterparts, offering some limited functionality online.

Word Processing

ü  Google Writer

ü  Zoho Writer

ü  Microsoft Word (Office Web Apps)

ü  ThinkFree Office online http://member.thinkfree.com/member/goSignin.action

ü  Yozo Office online http://www.yozooffice.com/products/yozo-web-office/

ü  Adobe Buzzword https://acrobat.com
(the only online word processor using Postscript fonts)

Spreadsheet

ü  Google Spreadsheet

ü  Zoho Sheet

ü  Microsoft Excel (Office Web Apps)

ü  ThinkFree Office online

ü  Yozo Office online

Presentations / Slideshows

ü  Google Presentation

ü  Zoho Show

ü  Microsoft Powerpoint (Office Web Apps)

ü  ThinkFree Office online

ü  Yozo Office online

ü  SlideShare http://www.slideshare.net/ (includes online sharing community)

ü  SlideRocket http://www.sliderocket.com/

Notebook / Web Clipping / Research

ü  Google Notebook

ü  Zoho Notebook

ü  Microsoft OneNote (Office Web Apps)

ü  Evernote http://www.evernote.com/  

ü  Springpad http://my.springpadit.com/  

ü  Springnote http://www.springnote.com/en

ü  UberNote: http://www.ubernote.com/

Email

ü  Google Gmail

ü  Zoho Mail

ü  Microsoft Hotmail & Business Productivity Online Suite

ü  Yahoo! Mail

(plus many, many others)

Contacts

ü  Google Gmail

ü  Zoho Mail (see also Contacts portion of Zoho CRM)

ü  Windows Live Hotmail

ü  Plaxo http://www.plaxo.com/

Calendars (private and shared)

ü  Google Calendar

ü  Zoho Calendar

ü  30 Boxes http://30boxes.com/  

ü  Tungle http://www.tungle.com/   (calendar coordinator & meeting scheduler)

Chat / Internet Messaging

ü  Google Talk

ü  Zoho Chat

ü  Windows Live MSN Chat

ü  Kool IM http://koolim.com/

Wiki

ü  Included in Google Sites

ü  Zoho Wiki

ü  Springnote http://www.springnote.com/en

Database Applications

ü  Zoho Creator

ü  Microsoft SQL Server Express /

Database Analysis

ü  Zoho Reports

Project Management / Collaboration

ü  Zoho Projects (can be integrated with Google Docs)

ü  37 Signals' Basecamp, Highrise, Backpack, Campfire http://37signals.com/   

ü  Huddle http://www.huddle.net/  

ü  Wiggio http://www.wiggio.com/  

ü  Nozbe http://www.nozbe.com/  

ü  Cozi (Family Organizer) http://www.cozi.com/home.htm

ü  WizeHive http://www.wizehive.com/

ü  @task http://www.attask.com/

ü  AjaxWorkspace http://www.ajaxworkspace.com/

ü  CoMINDwork http://www.comindwork.com/

ü  glasscubes http://www.glasscubes.com/

ü  Liquid Planner http://www.liquidplanner.com/

ü  ProjectOpen http://www.project-open.com/en/services/index.html

ü  TeamBox  http://teambox.com/

ü  teamwork http://www.teamworkpm.net/

Web Conferencing

ü  Google – Limited conferencing via Chat and Gmail Video Chat

ü  Zoho Meetings

ü  Microsoft Office Live Meeting

ü  ShowDocument http://www.showdocument.com/ds/main.jsf

ü  Vyew http://vyew.com/site/index2

CRM / Customer Relationship Management

ü  Zoho CRM (may be used with Google Docs)

ü  Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online (Office Live Small Business)

ü  SalesForce.com http://www.salesforce.com/

ü  BatchBook http://batchblue.com/

Personal Organizer / To Do Lists

ü  Zoho Planner

ü  Remember the Milk  http://www.rememberthemilk.com/

ü  Ta-da http://tadalist.com/

ü  TeuxDeux  http://teuxdeux.com/

ü  Toodledo www.toodledo.com/

ü  Hiveminder http://hiveminder.com/

ü  ToDoist http://todoist.com/

ü  Vitalist www.vitalist.com/

ü  Nozbe www.nozbe.com/gtd/index

Vitalist and Nozbe are based on the Getting Things Done (GTD) system.

Many other phone + web applications exist, too

Web Site Hosting

ü  Google Page Creator

ü  Microsoft Office Live Small Business

ü  SnapPages http://www.snappages.com/

Many other web site hosting solutions exist, too.

News Feed Reader (RSS & Atom)

ü  Google Reader

ü  Microsoft (available in Outlook and Internet Explorer)

Also available in other browsers and many downloadable programs.

Personalized Homepage

ü  iGoogle

ü  My Yahoo! (and many others)

HRIS (Human Resources Info Services) & Hiring Systems

ü  Zoho People (for existing staff)

ü  Zoho Recruit (for hiring services)

Business Suite

ü  Google Apps Premier Edition

ü  Zoho Business

ü  Microsoft Office Live Small Business & SkyDrive Services

Invoicing

ü  Zoho Invoice

ü  FreshBooks www.freshbooks.com/

ü  Ronin http://www.roninapp.com/

ü  The Invoice Machine http://invoicemachine.com/home

Phone & Answering & Forwarding Services

ü  Google Voice

Social Networking Communications & Customer Services

ü  Zoho Discussions

Small Business Accounting

ü  Zoho Books

ü  OutRight http://outright.com/ (geared towards freelancers who report on Schedule C)

ü  LessAccounting https://lessaccounting.com/index2.html

Software Development Tracking

ü  Zoho BugTracker

Conclusion: This is not an exhaustive list of online applications, but it is a good comparison of the types of services offered by Google and Zoho with links to other online office suites and similar independent services.

The value is in finding the applications that work best for you. Mix and match according to your needs and work style. The Google and Zoho applications are all free for individuals, as are many of the others. 

Microsoft applications work best when combined with their Office applications, which are fairly pricy compared with the other options discussed in this series.

To find earlier published Frugal Guidance blog posts about these software options, see:

Google http://frugalguidance.blogspot.com/2011/12/part-9-free-and-cheap-software-for-soho.html

Zoho http://frugalguidance.blogspot.com/2011/12/part-10-free-and-cheap-software-for_26.html and  http://frugalguidance.blogspot.com/2011/12/part-11-free-and-cheap-software-for.html

ThinkFree http://frugalguidance.blogspot.com/2011/12/free-and-cheap-software-for-soho-office_15.html

Yozo http://frugalguidance.blogspot.com/2011/12/free-and-cheap-software-for-soho-office_8850.html

To read the entire series on alternatives to Microsoft Office for the SOHO office, start with http://frugalguidance.blogspot.com/2011/12/free-and-cheap-software-for-soho-office.html

Key words: Zoho, Google, Microsoft, applications, cloud, SOHO, office, online

Part 11, Free and Cheap Software for the SOHO Office

Zeal for Zoho for SOHO

Part B - Looking at the basic applications

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In Part A we examined the extensive list of Zoho applications and how Zoho can coordinate with Google apps. Now we review some of Zoho's specific applications for individual, small office, nonprofit and frugal workers.
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Zoho Writer


​Although Zoho’s Writer has been around for years, the newest version is still in beta testing , so it has more features, but they might not all be well documented. One apparent bug is that the Zoho menus on top of the page disappear when opening an older document, but reappear when you select a new document (at least in Chrome).


One of my favorite features in Writer is that the interface combines both icon-based ribbons (similar to those in Microsoft Office since 2007) plus the option of accessing the same features from a drop-down menu. This is something many users wish Microsoft had done when they rolled out their 2007 apps.


Another distinction from Google's Writer, is a bottom-of-the-screen bar which tells you the number of pages (and which page you are on), the version number, the author, how long since last modified, creation date, word and character counts, all updated whenever the document is saved (which is automatic or manual). This could make it easier to track versions to revert to an earlier one. The bar also has three icons: click on the cloud and it lists your collaborators and offers a chat box; another for contextual comments, and a third for tags. Zoho allows you to sort documents into folders (like Microsoft) and by assigning tags (like Google). 


There's also a small chat bar available, if you want.


Writer offers 27 English language fonts plus the graphical Webdings, equations, headers/footers, footnotes. You can directly insert HTML or view the entire document as HTML (which you can't do now on Google); you can also import or create HTML CSS stylesheets. Watermarks are a nice new feature, and you can select emoticons, which seems a little odd for a service geared towards business. Like Google, you can email the file directly if you don’t want to use the email app.


One of the few features Zoho doesn't include is a paragraph (or character) style sheet (which MS Word and Google Docs have). This may be an issue if you regularly work on long, heavily formatted documents.


The REVIEW menu includes spell check, a custom dictionary, word count, and a thesaurus, and accesses your history, too. (There is no grammar checker.) The SHARE options include a Post to Blog command. 


You can publish any document so anybody on the internet can access it, or invite selected users to read and/or edit it. (They don’t have to register with Zoho to read a document, but they must register to edit it.) 


The Doc Roll creates a embeddable link so you can post a link on your blog or website for a published document. There is a facility for Digital Signatures, and a separate Lock command so nobody else can work on your doc until you say its OK. 


VIEWS includes options for viewing the HTML code. The Page Format option lets you also assign some font and paragraph level spacing for the entire document.


Mailings lets you create mailmerge (or other merge) documents. Individuals are limited to sending 500 email documents per day. Enterprise accounts are unlimited.


There is a shared templates area, but there's not even a fraction of what you’ll find in Google or Microsoft. (But you should be able to open a template in Google Apps or Microsoft, save it, and import it into Zoho!) There are no graphic art search options as there are in Google or Microsoft and no word art (as in Microsoft -- but I find most of Microsoft's word art styles to be ugly).​


​​​You can export the documents from Zoho Writer to the following formats:

• Microsoft Word - both .doc and .docx files 
• OpenOffice Writer files 
• RTF (Rich Text Format) files, which you should be able to open in virtually any other word processor 
• Text only files 
• HTML (including links to your blog) 
• PDF creation (but not editing of imported PDFs)

You can import all the same formats plus graphics, up to 10 MB in size. Modern MS Word documents import fine, but some of the graphics may shift position.
​
There is a bookmarklet you can add to your browser toolbar to take any text you find online and clip it to your Zoho Writer account. This appears to work similarly to Evernote's bookmarklet. 
​
Currently, you cannot use Right to Left languages in Zoho Writer, but they say it is part of their road map for the future. ​
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Other Zoho applications
​
In other Zoho apps, their Spreadsheet has a decidedly different interface than Google’s although (with a cursory look) it appears to support most of the same features. There is one toolbar for basic functions plus menus for publishing, sharing, and other tasks. It also let you embed a link in your blog or website to access a published spreadsheet.  You can create Macros and use VBA editing, too.


Zoho Mail is a good email hosting site. It’s main advantage over Gmail and Outlook is that it let’s you assign emails to folders, like Outlook, and also assign tags (like Gmail), so it’s very flexible. You can create rules for sorting, filing and responding to email. I like the fact  that, when sending an email from Zoho, you can attach any document from Zoho Docs, your own hard drive, and even from Google Docs! (I wish Gmail would let you do that.) Another nice feature is that you have links to all your available Zoho applications on the left hand side of the page, so you can switch back and forth easily. 
​
Zoho Notebook has grown to include many of the features of OneNote or Evernote. It lets you store text, audio, video, HTML, and embed URLs, RSS, lists, Zoho writer docs, spreadsheets, and presentations, and files. You can also create text files and spreadsheets directly within the notebook with a mini-Writer or -Sheet interface. You can share notebooks with others and publish them, too. If you already use Evernote, you might not need Zoho Notebook, but it does have a few features that Evernote doesn't have: You can embed video in the free Zoho Notebook -- you need the paid version of Evernote to do that. You can create real spreadsheets in Zoho, Evernote just uses tables.
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If you use Zoho as your main workspace, combining the Notebook and the Writer clipping bookmark might be a nice way to centralize all your research in one location. But there are no desktop or phone applications for Zoho Notebook as there are for Evernote.
​
Zoho just recently updated its CRM application, which you could use free as a contact manager on steroids. The new version includes the ability to import data from your LinkedIn contacts. I haven't had time to experiment with it, but it would be interesting to see if you could use the free individual version of CRM as an alternate LinkedIn database. (If any readers try it, please let me know how it works.) You can import and attach Google docs to Zoho's CRM records as well.
​
Freelancers might like the Invoice application. Freelance HR professionals might want to take a look at Zoho'sRecruit and People applications if you're not already committed to another system.
​
Conclusion
​
If you are ready to take all your creative and business activity to the Cloud, Zoho has a lot to recommend it. If you prefer some of Google's applications (say, perhaps, its spreadsheet or Gmail), there's no reason not to have a Google application in one browser tab and Zoho apps in others. You can try all of Zoho's apps for free, and most stay free for up to three users. Some of the workgroup and internet communications features may not be feasible for that small a group, but Zoho's rates should be reasonable. Zoho also offers discounted rates for nonprofit corporations.
​
If I was forced to select only one web app site for my online work, I'd probably chose Zoho, although the ability to mix and match other apps is great. With Google, Zoho, and many other software and specialized online applications available, corporations, web workers, telecommuters, and small and home office entrepreneurs  have many more usable choices than ever before.​​
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Keywords: Zoho, Writer, apps, office, SOHO, collaboration, business

Part 6, Free and Cheap Software for the SOHO Office

Even Lesser Known Office Suite Options

Crystal, Celframe, Coral, Calligra & KOffice (and a few more)

It's difficult to find a way to put all these software players into a single literary, movie, or operatic reference (as we've tried to do, with varying success, in earlier parts of this series). So let's just imagine them as potential characters in the upcoming movie of The Hobbit. Crystal would obviously be a reference to one of the magical communication orbs the wizards sometimes use. Celframe nicely describes the architecture of a room in a Hobbit's underground home, or a minor monster in a Dwarvish mine. Coral and Calligra are obviously Elvish characters, and KOffice sounds vaguely Orc-ish to me. Trying to meld all these characters into a single scene or plot would take many pages – and would certainly exceed the patience of this blog's readers. So let's talk about the software, instead:

Crystal Office  has some nice “Lite” office programs for Windows which have good functionality, but won't win any competitions based on features:

• NotePro is a Rich Text Format-based word processor, which is more advanced than WordPad and includes spell checking, a calculator, tables, and bookmarking. The RTF format is an older, basic formatting specification that should make it easy to import or paste into almost any other program.
• DayMate is a schedule organizer which allows you to schedule reminders, start applications, shut down your computer, dial phone numbers, send messages and open web sites.
•  CellPro is a speadsheet application and ChartPro is a charting program.

The entire suite is $31.95 (more for a backup disk), or you can buy the individual programs separately. If you like simplicity, ease of use, and quick loading software, these are worth a try. If you live by the calendar and appointments, DayMate sounds particularly intriguing.

Also of note are a few extra programs available on the Crystal site:

• ClipPlus is a clipboard manager that collects text and graphics clips.
•  Maple and Maple Professional are outline managers that allow you to collect text, graphics and files, all in a hierarchical outline structure. If you do research or collect lots of data, but find that notebook applications, such as OneNote and Evernote, don't have the organizational structure you want, the Maples definitely are worth a look.

The site is currently advertising a Winter sale of 20% off if you enter the code (located on the banner of the home page).

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If you are interested just in simple word processing, Jarte  (Windows only) may be similar to Crystal's NotePro. Adding to the features already found in Microsoft’s free WordPad software, it adds things like spell-check, headers/footers, tables and more, and it’s free.


If you need a full-featured word processor without the rest of an office suite, you can also look at the open source, free AbiWord. It is a stand-alone word processor which functions similar to Libre/OpenOffice's Writer or Word 2003. Its small size and modest system requirements make it perfect for older Windows computers and for new netbooks, too, as well as Mac OS X and Linux machines. It can also be run from a USB memory stick. Despite its small size, it is a full-featured word processor that has gathered a loyal following. It's well worth the download to try it. It's part of the GNOME project by GNU, which someday may be an entirely different blog post.

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Headquartered in New York City, Celframe may be the largest U.S. producer of office software that most people have never heard of. Celframe offers application suites that appear to be popular with large corporations, governments, and schools. Its Celframe Office 2008 includes a full suite of applications including: Write, Spreadsheet, Power Presentation, Draw, Data Access, Studio (a graphics program), Photoalbum, Mail, Backup, Note Maker, Publisher, PDF Maker, and XML Maker. Celframe offers four different suites, ranging from Celframe Office Home for $62, to Celframe Office Pro for $170. (The suites are all different, depending on the intended audience. You need to see the website to compare.)


Celframe doesn't directly import newer Microsoft XML formats. It does offer, a free converter called, unsurprisingly, Celframe Converter. Otherwise the suites will open earlier Microsoft files plus OpenOffice formats, too. (It's graphics programs support Adobe Photoshop, Flash and CorelDraw formats.) Its interface is similar to Office 2003.
 
The suite can be run from a USB flash drive. You can download a trial version for 30 days. Reviews say that the programs are fairly light in functionality.

Upon a query, a Celframe spokesperson did say that they are planning to update its software in 2012, including cloud apps. This makes sense since other vendors (including Google and Zoho) are making large inroads in the corporate, government and education markets which appear to be the bread and butter of Celframe. Beta testing is expected in the middle of 2012.

Unless you have a need for the complete suite of packages and need to run it from a USB flash drive, it's hard to imagine a scenario where this would be the most economical or most powerful suite one could get for the money. If, however, you run an international conglomerate, this might be a nice, economical package for a few thousand employees.

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If you are a Linux/Unix user, you should take a look at the free KOffice which is an open source suite of office and graphics applications. A “stable” version, KOffice 2.3.3 was released last March. Versions may also eventually be made for Windows and Mac OS X.


Of note, KWord is a frame-based word processor which might be excellent for desktop publishing and page layout, with master pages, graphic frames and other features. Other programs include KCells (spreadsheet) and Showcase (presentations). Other related open source software programs include Karbon (vector drawing), Krita (bitmap graphics), KPlato (project management), Kexi (data management), and Kivio (diagramming). The graphics programs, Krita and Karbon, are both considered stable and ready for "real" work. Interestingly, this project was boosted in 2010 by the support of Nokia.

Just as the OpenOffice community has split into groups, the KOffice community has an offshoot called Calligra which is creating versions of the KOffice suite with different names. So far, the software is still in beta testing. For Windows users, this could be the better bet for the future, but the software is currently only available for Linux. Watch http://www.calligra-suite.org/ for announcements for Windows and Mac versions as well as smartphone capability. The Calligra suite uses the same file formats as Libre/Open Office, which might be good for interoperability, eventually. This is also an open source project, so the applications are free.

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Coral WordPerfect Office Professional  is another office suite that is often loaded on personal computers as a trial product. It includes a word processor, Quattro spreadsheet, Paradox database, slideshow and presentation units, data analysis, a digital notebook, a sticky note app, and a light email client. You can buy versions of the suite from the Coral website, but you might do better shopping other online retailers for a better price.

WordPerfect, at one time, was one of Microsoft Word's best competitors and it's a shame it wasn't able to survive Microsoft's marketing onslaught. (I think the same of Lotus 1-2-3 which was, in its heyday, much better than Excel.) Coral, known for its graphics programs, later bought up the rights and today lots of people do good work with this suite. Although a bit pricy, the software has stood the test of time and claims to have good interoperability with Microsoft products.


Coming next: Zenware


Tags: AbiWord, Crystal, Celframe, WordPerfect, Coral, KOffice, Calligra, Jarte, Maple, software, SOHO, office

Free and Cheap Software for the SOHO Office, Part 5

Part 5: Two Chinese options: Kingsoft and Yozo


We continue our musical presentations of Microsoft Office competitors with our two very distinct Chinese software companies. One can almost sympathize with these companies because they have internal and external pressure to quickly bring Western-style software and interfaces, in many languages, to both the children of the Cultural Revolution as well as children of the Social Media revolution. With the Chinese reputation for wide-scale, unabashed copyright infringement and interface robbery, it makes sense, then, that our subjects for the day are performing in the veddy, veddy British Gilbert and Sullivan comedy, Pirates of Penzance.


We cast Kingsoft Software (although we could probably go either way) as Frederic, the not-so-bright 21-year-old who has just finished his enforced apprenticeship to the pirates, only to discover he was born on February 29^th and therefore has another 63 years until his 21^st birthday and the end of his apprenticeship. We cast Yozo as Frederic's romantic interest, the not-so-pretty Mabel, the daughter of Major-General Stanley.


We could have just as easily cast our friends into the roles of the Pirate King (which they might find insulting) and the General, except asking any native Chinese speaker to sing the rapid-paced, tongue-twisting patter song "I am the very model of a modern Major-General," would be just a little bit cruel. FWIW, by the end of Pirates of Penzance the pirates discover themselves to be loyal subjects of Queen Victoria and the girls (including our heroine, Mabel) all end up happily married. Ah, if only software company relationships were so easily resolved.


So, now that we are thoroughly entertained with Victorian comedy, we return to our software reviews, since these have as many twists and turns as a Gilbert & Sullivan plot.


Hong Kong-based Kingsoft Software now offers a free Kingsoft Office 2012 and Kingsoft Office Pro 2012, available on http://www.kingsoftstore.com/index.html. Both offer three modules: Writer, Spreadsheet and Presentation. Most of the interesting new features are in the Pro version:

• Kingsoft appears to be the first company to successfully rip-off, er, emulate the new Microsoft ribbon interface. From the few small screen shots on their website (and a few reviews), you have to look hard to see a difference. However, they also added the ability to switch between their menu interface (similar to MS Office 2003) and their ribbon interface. This is something that many, if not most users wished had been included when Microsoft released Office 2007.
• Kingsoft Office Pro also advertises “Section tabs,” which are what we would probably call “Document tabs,” another feature some people wish was in Microsoft's programs.
• It has a Visual Basic Editor
• A “Paragraph Adjustment Tool” which offers mouse-controlled paragraph formatting
• Macro creation tools
• File encryption tools
• New table styles and table expansion tools
• Cover page templates
• The ability to save in PDF format and also open and edit PDF files
• The suites continue to advertise the ability to open all Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint files (including 2007 and 2010) and save in Microsoft 2003 formats, so you can open Kingsoft files directly in Microsoft products without translation.
• All this is in a small, downloadable file which, after installation, reportedly runs briskly
• The Pro version costs $69.95

Neither the free nor the pro versions offer a grammar checker, which is a shame because one occasionally runs into language on the Kingsoft website that is incomprehensible in English.


Although Kingsoft seems to be aiming both barrels at Microsoft with their triple hitter (how's that for mixing metaphors?), they also seem to be aiming at both Microsoft and OpenOffice (and a lot of other folks, including South Korea's Thinkfree Office) with their free version. (All their feature comparison charts freely ignore the fact that both OpenOffice and Microsoft offer other programs in their suites.)


Kingsoft's free version is a more limited package, which is no surprise. What it does NOT include are the switchable interface, the ribbon interface, the paragraph adjustment tool, “section” tabs, Writer cover templates, or Presentation templates—in other words, most of the new stuff.


Some reviewers have noted that the free version is quite small, starts up very quickly, and has more versatility than most free software, offering WordPad speed with advanced functionality. Being a free version, it is available for download from a number of sources, including cnet.com.


The older Kingsoft Office 2010 advertised that it was usable in English, Chinese, Vietnamese and Japanese. The website for the new version does not give any information about which languages are supported. (It seems unlikely that they would have removed any of the Asian languages.) However, the new website offers options to click on flags for the U.S., Germany, France, China and Japan. One might infer that French and German could now be supported, too, but je ne c'est pas.


It is not clear whether the Pro version allows a trial period before purchasing, although some web sites appear to offer one. All customer support is online or by email.


Kingsoft also offers a new, free Kingsoft Office Suite for Android, for use on Android phones and tablets. It allows you to open, edit and create Writer and Spreadsheets and open, edit, but not create presentations. Curiously, they just announced yesterday (on December 14, 2011) that the software is now free and people who purchased it earlier can apply for a refund. The Android software appears to be available in the Android marketplace in English, Japanese and Chinese.


In conclusion, Kingsoft is aggressively marketing its new software with a free version as well as reasonably low pricing in its Pro version. If they can survive the barrage of infringement lawsuits likely from Microsoft (and Chinese courts might make that possible), it sounds like an interesting product. There are surprisingly few reviews on the web from reputable journalists, so far, and no real in-depth reviews.


If you are not bothered by the Chinese propensity to steal intellectual property (and other geopolitical issues), you probably should take a look at the free version of the software. If you have an Android tablet, you'd be silly not to try their Android app. (I still wonder about the true functionality of office software on Android phones.) People using older computers or netbooks might be pleased with the small file sizes and requirements to run this suite.


Those who rarely use any software other than word processing, spreadsheets and presentations and, thus, don't need easy compatibility with other programs (say, database, page layout, or email hosting), could possibly find much of what they need in these tidy little packages.
 

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Yozo Office 2010 (formerly EIOfiice 2009) is marketed by a Chinese software company named EIOffice (a.k.a. Evermore Integrated Office) that claims to be the largest seller of software to the Chinese government. The suite, available in Chinese, Japanese, French and English, was created as a Chinese competitor to Microsoft Office.


The 2009 version of the software was available for $14.95. The 2010 version, now available from http://www.yozooffice.com/products/yozo-office-2010/, shoots the price up to $41.95 for a single license. Yozo Office is available for Windows, Linux, Meego and Android.


Yozo Office offers word processing, spreadsheet and presentation capabilities in a unified program (not separate modules). A screenshot shows an impressive-looking "Integrated Science Editor" for biology, chemistry, physics, math, geography and flowcharts. It imports Office 2010 and earlier files and OpenOffice formats and appears to export to new Microsoft Office formats. It does offer PDF creation in addition to its proprietary formats, and includes a "binder" to bring documents, spreadsheets and presentations together in a single file. Befitting the pirate reputation of Chinese software companies, its features list includes "boarders" (although they probably mean "borders").


This is a Java-based program that runs on top of Windows (or Linux, Android or Symbian), so the big question is whether it runs visibly slower on Windows or not. (You should also check to see if it has the same font display problems of the Korean ThinkFree suite.) You can download a trial version for 15 days before paying for a license to continue using the program. A downloadable user manual, templates, tutorials and sample documents are available only with a paid license.


Yozo Office has expanded their Chinese-only cloud-computing platform to other languages (including, apparently, English). It would be interesting to compare their cloud application offerings with that of much larger Google and Zoho.com. Check out http://www.yozooffice.com/products/yozo-web-office/ for more information.


Probably the biggest negative to trusting your information to a Chinese online firm is the country's reputation for pirating software, technology and intellectual property. One wonders how safe sensitive information would be government or private hackers. (To be fair, if I was a Chinese businessman using Google, I might also wonder how safe my information was from intrusion from U.S. Homeland Security and the NSA, too.)


Tags: Yozo, Kingsoft, software, SOHO, office, webapps

Free and Cheap Software for the SOHO Office, Part 4

Part 4: Thinkfree Office, the South Korean option


In our current theatrical production of alternatives to Microsoft office, we travel around the globe to South Korea, to take a quick look at ThinkFree Office. Unfortunately, with some visual display problems in my Windows version, I can only cast ThinkFree in the role of Helen Keller, in The Miracle Worker . With the patient tutorage of Anne Sullivan, our deaf/blind Helen learns sign language, and overcomes all obstacles to become an international software distributor and Cloud office application provider.


Seoul-based ThinkFree Office 4 emphasizes file compatibility with Word, Excel and PowerPoint (2003, 2007, 2010), with its three programs (Write, Calc and Show) plus a ThinkFree Manager for coordinating your files online (ThinkFree Online) and off. You can download the software (free for 30-days) or use the online version. The free online registration gives you online storage (up to 1 GB) plus online file-format translation, sharing and web embedding tools. Software is available for Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux. There are also versions for Android phones, Netbooks, Mobile Internet Devices, Servers (Standard and Enterprise), API apps, and conversion software. After 30 days, the cost is $49.95 for the basic suite (with different prices for other versions).


The program opens all Office Word, Excel and Powerpoint formats for 2003 and 2007/2010 Office suites, including templates (.dot), Rich Text Format (.rtf), and text (.txt). ThinkFree appears to use the same file formats as Microsoft for saving its files to preserve compatibility, and also saves PDF files. It is not compatible with Libre/OpenOffice formats.


The interface is similar to Office 2003. When using the font dialogue box, you have a choice of Asian as well as Latin fonts. Unfortunately, when testing on my PC, the font rendering on screen was terrible, even using larger sizes. Since displaying text and numbers legibly is a basic function of word processing or a spreadsheet, this is a severe limitation (at least in the Windows version). The fonts did print properly. (An email request asking for a solution went unanswered.)


Word files with graphics and text wrapping generally opened properly in Office 4 with only minor tweaks needed to adjust formatting (possibly because of the bad font rendering). To edit online, you need to download extra Java compatibility software. You can use your installed fonts even when online, but the fonts have the same display problems and the program feels a bit sluggish.


ThinkFree also offers a suite of server options from web-based file sharing and collaboration to full enterprise solutions.


If you use Asian languages (especially Korean), or you want to change file formats back and forth from Microsoft Office or create PDFs from another program, try it. (It might be interesting to compare features between the online ThinkFree Office and Microsoft’s Office online apps on their sites alongside Google Apps and Zoho.com.) If ThinkFree can solve their font display problems, this could be an interesting and frugal alternative to Office online.


Tags: ThinkFree, software, SOHO, office, webapps, HelenKeller, MiracleWorker

Free and Cheap Software for the SOHO Office, Part 3

Part 3: Ability Office


In Act 3 of our extended international software drama we present London's Ability Office in a re-creation of the role of John Steed in The Avengers  TV series. In today's episode, Steed is posing as a British international businessman, appropriately dressed in derby hat and bespoke suite, accessorized with the Londoner's ever-present bumbershoot. Using amazing tools from his extended collection of software, including accounting, human resources, appointments and, of course, security, he smoothly discovers and captures the enemy (in an acerbically British version of Getting Things Done) with the able assistance of Mrs. Peel, all in time for cocktails and dinner, of course.


London-based Ability (www.ability.com/) has a very reasonably-priced alternative to Microsoft Office and WordPerfect Office called Ability Office for Windows. Version 5, released in 2008 offers a suite of  programs. The Home version Includes: Write, Spreadsheet, Presentation, Photopaint (a bit-map graphics editor), Draw (vector graphics) and Photoalbum. You can download the US versions from http://www.asiability.us/ and try free for 30 days. The Home Edition costs $34.99. The Business Edition adds an Access-compatible relational Database and costs $44.99. (That's not a typo – that's a relational database for just $10 extra!) Each purchase offers two licenses.


Ability Office can import and export Microsoft Office 2007/2010 XML files, but not OpenOffice files. It also opens Office 2003 and earlier files plus, curiously, AmiPro files. (Anybody remember AmiPro?)


Ability's Write module will save in every Microsoft Word format from Office 2010 on backwards to Word 3.0 (which even Microsoft no longer supports), Ami Pro, text, Windows Write, HTML, plus it's own formats, and creates PDFs. Ability's Write does have a grammar checker and a form editor (which Libre/OpenOffice's Writer lacks). Otherwise, during a very brief tryout, the feature set appeared to be quite similar to OpenOffice's. The graphics programs, however, are light alternatives to PhotoShop and Illustrator which you can buy in a Graphics Photos and Presentations suite (combined with Presentation and Photoalbum) for $24.99, a good frugal price.


Ability also offers other software for businesses, including packages for security, accounting, appointments, business planning, and HR/staff files. If you need any of those packages for your business, adding Ability Office might create a very nice and frugal unified interface. 


All in all, Ability Office is a nice commercial alternative to Microsoft Office and Open/LibreOffice for not a lot of money. It adds three graphics modules (to OpenOffice's 1 and Microsoft's 0). In a trial run of the software, my biggest issue was slightly straining my older eyes with the smaller menus and icons. Like all the alternatives to Microsoft, Ability uses the menu and toolbar interface, not the ribbon interface which is strictly protected by Microsoft.


By office software standards, 2008 is only beginning to get long in the tooth. It will be interesting to see when Ability projects their next version's availability.


Tags: Ability, software, SOHO, office, Avengers, Steed