Zoho Docs: Documents 2.0
Of course, I cannot talk about the Future of Documents in the cloud without mentioning GoogleDocs, which let you edit, manage, mash-up and track your documents online. I could talk about it for hours, but I’m sure my readers know it quite well already.
Probably not as widely known , but maybeeven more powerful is Zoho Docs. Zoho Docs brings together Zoho Writer, Zoho Sheet, and Zoho show, into a comprehensive, single interface available to manage, edit and share all your documents online. You can create your own login or use your Yahoo or Google login.
But where it gets more interesting is the fact that your documents can be versioned, shared, updated in real time. They can be labelled but also tagged – the document becomes “social”. Even more importantly, elements of a document can be included between applications. For example, you can copy a Zoho sheet into a Zoho presentation, and if the original sheet is updated, the corresponding slide will be updated. The document is moving away from that atomic container of information, really becoming this “evergreen” mash-up of document bits coming from various sources. But of course you can still import or export in more traditional formats.
Anecdotically, I found amusing that the latest version of Zoho Writer actually comes back to a page metaphor which is strongly inspired by paper. In the new version, it is possible to insert header/footers or get a “page view” which was requested by many users… Interesting paradox, since this is really legacy from the paper document!
Although the interface might not be as cool as Sliderocket (which is Flash-based), the tight level of integration between the various applications and document formats, the supporting capabilities (sharing, tagging, online conferencing), but also the complementarity with Zoho business apps (CRM, People, Projects, invoice…) really make Zoho an excellent Document 2.0 application.
Thank you for the post Francois. We are glad that you recognize the power of Zoho Docs and other Zoho Applications.
In the bigger picture, I think we still are in the early stages. There is room for improvements with online applications taking advantage of the cloud. From that standpoint, Documents 2.0 will get better and better over time.
Thanks again.
Tried to access Zoho Docs from this blog but access denied by Xerox because access contravenes Xerox policy!
[...] on the cloud does not necessarily mean making them fully editable anywhere like in GoogleDocs, Zoho Docs, or myBooo. Sometimes the goal is to be able to more easily share your content with others, like [...]
[...] components translated into web-based, cloud-hosted applications. Following the path of Google Docs, Zoho docs, or even OpenOffice 3.0 (made available on the cloud by Ulteo), this web-based version of [...]
[...] for sharing documents in a view-only, easy to share format, complementary to virtual desktops or online office document applications. I Love Social [...]