Google Buys Online Word Processor Writely

Jay Wrolstad,
newsfactor.com
Mon Mar 13, 3:02 PM ET
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nf/20060313/...N5bnN1YmNhdA--


Search giant Google has added another tool to the company's growing online-services arsenal with the purchase of Upstartle, a Silicon Valley startup that makes an online word processor known as Writely.

The Web-based Writely application lets users compose and edit documents online, then publish them on the Internet, including on blogs.

Among the formats supported by Writely are Word, OpenOffice, HTML, and plain text. Those using the tool can view the revision history of a particular document and roll back the current version to any earlier iteration.

Writely beta was launched in August 2005 and is "far from perfect," according to a blog posting by Jen Mazzon, formerly of Upstartle and now a member of Google's Writely team.

Online Collaboration

Currently, Google plans to offer individual access to the online tool at no charge, but the company likely will roll out extra features that might require a paid subscription. Corporations, meantime, will have to pay a licensing fee to access the service.

In addition to basic document-creation features, the word processor gives users the ability to collaborate online. Those using the tool can grant access to a document simply by adding people to a document's list of contributors.

Google did not specify that such capabilities are limited to users of its Gmail service, although that might be likely.

Writely supports posting to most of the popular blog sites, as well as to any blog that supports the Blogger, MetaWeblog, or MovableType formats.

Targeting Productivity

"This is an interesting addition to Google's collection of productivity tools," said Melissa Webster, a program director at IDC. "They already offer e-mail, calendar options, and photo services, so it makes sense for them to add word processing for creating and managing Web content."

The Writely application lets users label and format documents they create, Webster noted, and the version-tracking capability is useful for completing group projects in real time. But it is limited to those who have Web access, she added.

"There is no way to take this with you on the road, although, with broadband access growing rapidly, there are more opportunities to use this type of Web-based tool," said Webster.

She also noted that Writely could provide an alternative to Microsoft's Office Live platform that includes online productivity applications. "Google has no intention of getting into the software business, focusing instead on Web advertising to make a substantial profit," Webster said.

__________________

This makes perfect sense. I've been hearing rumors that Google is going to offer a free office suite to rival MS for a while now.

__________________
IBBDB - Internet Bulletin Board Database

hehe yeah it'll go good with the google online operating system.


Scary stuff when all of these google "beta" projects are launched full force.

__________________
Reliable PHP Web Hosting since 1999
webmaster forum with no incentives and little information
Domain Name Registration & SSL