1. EtherPad
Etherpad offers real-time editing and collaboration of plain text documents. It includes a mini chat room and shows each user’s edits with their own color in real time. Also nice is the ability to save and restore revisions.
The interface is a little barebones and too many common features we’ve grown accustomed to in office suites are missing but this is a good solution for basic brainstorming sessions for groups of people in real time.
There are some major negatives: First, you can’t store any documents online as you can with other solutions and you have to track each and every cryptic URL. Additionally, there’s no clean and easy way to export finished documents and you also can’t import or open Microsoft Office documents like the other options can.
2. Google Docs
Google Docs offers all three office apps for creating documents, spreadsheets and presentations. They also offer good sharing features which means you can collaborate with others in real-time at the same time on the same documents.
There’s also an option to post the document to a blog or website and have any changes updated automatically by itself. This makes it sort of like a wiki and a blog publishing platform. A downside to Google Docs is that you can’t chat with others inside Google Docs, but then again, you can always use Gtalk.
3. Zoho
Like Google Docs, Zoho offers a suite of apps to create online documents, spreadsheets and presentations (plus databases), but their sharing features are much better. Not only can you invite others to view or edit documents, but you can create groups to make them easier to manage.
Additionally, like Google Docs you can publish any doc to your blog or website, but it also adds a new feature that Google doesn’t offer which is the ability to make any document public. Zoho provides a unique URL and RSS feed for every public document which is updated automatically whenever a change is made.
You can also chat live with collaborators by using a tab on the left that shows all collaborators, making it easy to communicate while editing a document together in real time. And, if you need to go back and check older versions of the document you can.
4. Microsoft Office Live
Microsoft Office Live allows existing owners of Microsoft Office to share and collaborate with other Office owners by using their Microsoft Office Online account. It’s important to note that this service is not free and if you do not have Office installed on your computer then you’re out of luck.
In order to make this a truly useful solution, Microsoft will need to provide a true web version of their apps in the cloud. However, if you just want to share Microsoft Office documents with colleagues that have Office then this could be a viable option.
5. ThinkFree
Think Free provides a slick suite of online apps like Zoho and Google Docs. You can use the web versions of their apps or install a desktop client that syncs with your online account which will allow you to work offline. Zoho and Google claim to let you work offline via Google gears but you can’t create new documents offline, only view existing ones. Thinkfree allows you to do everything just like the full blown Microsoft Office suite.
The service offers great sharing options for individuals or groups. Each document is Microsoft Office compatible and if the person you’re working with doesn’t have Microsoft Office they can view documents with a free ThinkFree viewer. ThinkFree also provides an offering similar to Microsoft Project with up to three free projects. Another plus? You get 1 GB of storage online for your documents.
