AbiCollab Takes On Google Docs and Zoho Writer 82
msevior writes "Just released today, the free software AbiWord word processor, employed by the One Laptop Per Child project, tightly integrates with a new collaboration Web site to enable easy real-time collaborative editing of documents. AbiCollab.net also enables documents to be stored online, allows format conversion on the fly, stores the history of the docs in svn, provides direct links to HTML-ized docs that update as you save them, and allows easy sharing of docs amongst friends and groups. All in all, new competition for Google Docs and Zoho Writer, but featuring a real word processor rather than an app in a browser."
Slashvertisement! (Score:3, Insightful)
Seriously, what on earth is that supposed to mean ?
Re:Slashvertisement! (Score:5, Insightful)
It means the person who wrote this is sick of web "applications", and prefers desktop applications. Like most sane people.
Does anyone actually *want* collaborative software (Score:5, Insightful)
It's a locked in EXTERNAL web site, no thanks. (Score:5, Insightful)
This app only works as long as the abicollab.net website is functional, and they will get to see a copy of anything you do. This would only be a useful alternative
if there was a separate deployable web-service that could be INTERNALLY hosted.
The main reason for us not using google apps is that the documents would be vulnerable to privacy issues. This solution does not fix that problem.
If you have access to external web site, you might as well use a web based app.
Re:Does anyone actually *want* collaborative softw (Score:1, Insightful)
If you have ever worked on a large project with multiple inputs, you'd know about the current problems and how much of a godsend collab environments are.
Prototyping with such interfaces is incredibly useful. (if the interface itself is good)
Designers, article writers, magazines, project management, programming, etc.
Also, please remember that collaborative editing doesn't mean people making penis drawings over your most recent edit...
Re:Does anyone actually *want* collaborative softw (Score:4, Insightful)
We are.
We've been having to use Gobby for collaborative writing because it's the only secure way for us to do writing sessions online. Sure, having some text formatting in a program like that would be nice, but we've been copying the Gobby sessions over to our Wiki and the formatting is done there anyway, so there isn't much of a need for that but it still would be nice for future projects.
Even down the road when we can afford to relocate and work in the same building instead of having all our studio members living in different states, we are still going to do our writing sessions with some kind of real-time collaborative writing software. You have no idea how much easier it is to make changes yourself instead of pointing at someone's screen telling them what to type, or how much faster you can both write when you can both be working on different parts of the script at the same time, or having someone edit your mistakes immediately. When you are actually discussing the story constantly with a co-writer, you really want software like this.
As for whiteboards, we'd really like to have the same real-time collaborative editing that we enjoy with Gobby for our design and art production as well. We've tried things like OpenCanvas or those online paint chat applications, and nothing really cuts it. So for that we are settling with VNC and uploading the files to each other when we need to do some serious red-lining.
Re:Slashvertisement! (Score:1, Insightful)
"No downloads, no clients"
What do you think an app in a browser is? It's downloaded code running inside a client.
Re:It's a locked in EXTERNAL web site, no thanks. (Score:3, Insightful)