Top 5 Free Online Word ProcessorsThe pundits have been saying for years that software will become a service that is accessed on the Net instead of discrete programs that are installed on our local computers. There are a number of free online word processors that are leading the way. These may not replace installed software for most of us, but they can be interesting to experiment with and downright useful for some of us and for some applications. Here are the free offerings that I find most interesting and or most useful. AjaxWrite is the newest of my free online word processor choices. It is not the most complete or the most useful at this writing, but it is very interesting for its potential and pedigree. The goal is to emulate MS Word in a cross-platform and nimble online offering. AjaxWrite is the fist of an entire suite from Internet mover and shaker Michael Robertson the founder of Linspire, MP3.com and other online ventures. The first version only supports Firefox, but IE support is planned. ThinkFree, as far as I know, had the first major online word processor. In addition to a very capable word processor they also offer a free online spreadsheet and a free online presentation program. ThinkFree also gives you 30 megabytes of free online storage for your documents. The software is largely Java based, so the majority of the interactive features are implemented on your local computer. For many people, this client server model may provide the best performance and utility. Writely probably has the most potential, if for no other reason than they are now owned by Google. It has been rumored for quite some time that Google would be making an online office software play. At this writing Writely is not taking new users while the software is being moved to Google's highly scalable back-end server infrastructure. Although I've never used Writely myself, I include it here both because it is owned by Google and because of the glowing reviews it has received. Zoho Writer has a very clean interface and is very easy to use. Zoho also offers a whole host of other applications and more are being added all time. One of the more interesting is an application builder that you can use to create your own online database driven applications. The sheer number and variety of Zoho applications makes them a player to watch in the free online office space. If you want a word processor with a simple and easy to use interface but that can create beautiful documents with ease, gOffice may be what you seek. The gOffice Suite includes the word processor, desktop publishing, spreadsheet, and a presentation program is on the way.
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