Stories about: ThinkFree

Web-based office suites are coming into their own at last. For quite a while, Web-based suites -- which offered word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, and other tools associated with desktop office suites -- were extolled not because they did these things well, but because they could do them at all. But the three major competitors, Google Docs, ThinkFree, and Zoho, have all made major improvements in recent months. They're becoming both broader, with more applications, and deeper, with more features and functionality in existing apps.

What would DEMO '07, or any high tech show for that matter, be without loud music and a light show for the daily opening of the conference? DEMOfall could do no less.

The free Web browser-based Zoho office productivity suite is about to become more useful and flexible. Zoho developers are adding capabilities that enable offline editing and storage of Zoho-created documents for PC and Mac users.

Call it the second Internet bubble, a Web 2.0 revolution or just a resurgence in really useful tools for busy end users -- Web applications are catching on quickly.

ThinkFree added offline support to its online application suite Tuesday and launched it as a US$7-a-month alternative to Microsoft Office.

Google is reportedly in talks with a South Korean software company and its US subsidiary, ThinkFree, a maker of browser-based office productivity software compatible with Microsoft file formats.

Microsoft Office faces stiffer competition from the open-source world following major releases of Office competitors for the Mac OS X, Unix and Linux platforms last week.

ThinkFree.com Corp. on Monday plans to unveil ThinkFree Offfice 2.0, a server-based office productivity suite featuring Microsoft Office-compatible word processing, spreadsheet and presentation graphics programs.

On Wednesday Netscape Communications begins fumigating its buggy Netscape 6.0 browser with an improved beta upgrade. The AOL Time Warner subsidiary says its latest beta, Netscape 6.1, offers numerous upgrades but its biggest new feature may be its stability--although some problems persist. The company expects to offer the final Netscape 6.1 release later this year.