Om Malik has the scoop on Writely being acquired by Google. For me, this is the first serious shot across Microsoft’s bows in what will be a war to win the desktop – or rather its Internet equivalent. As you might expect, there’s a furious debate going on at Om’s place about the rights and wrongs. IMO – most of it is pretty irrelevant. It’s happened – move on.
For those that don’t know, Writely is an online word processor that allows you to collaborate among participants you get to invite. I love it. It’s a huge productivity booster. Sadly, some companies don’t get it. They will.
There’s one problem – Writely has slammed the door on its beta program while they incorporate the service into Google’s other stuff. I’ve got an account so I can still share with others. I’ll be using Writely as my standard means of document creation and sharing from here on in.
Next up? NumSum or wikiCalc methinks. I’m sure the pivot table fans will have something to say about this.
Technorati Tags: innovation, wiki, wikicalc
