Finally - Writely to start using Google Login

By Vivek Puri | September 19th, 2006 at 08:17 pm ET         

In the next few days, users will be able to login into Writely using their Google account. Google had bought Writely, a product from Upstartle Inc, in March 2006. Since the buyout, Writely has moved to the Google infrastructure that has helped it provide a quicker site and better data security to users. All this while, Writely team has been busy in the integration process, with not many features being introduced, which are very much needed.

Personally I have been using Writely for almost a year and find it to be the best web-based word processor as compared to offerings like JotSpot, or Zoho. Writely was the first to provide multi-user WYSIWYG web based document editing that has not been matched by any of its competitors. Documents created using Writely can be saved in Word, HTML, RTF, Open Office, and PDF formats.

However, lot of new features are required to make Writely a beefier offering. First of all I think Writely should have multilingual interfaces that will help it target a larger user base. From the collaboration standpoint, present method of sharing document with individual users is very cumbersome. There should be support for user groups that can be set at the time document is being created. Since Writely will now integrate with Google Account, users should be able to email documents from Writely itself that should also show up in the sent mail folder. This also implies that Gmail contacts and Writely contacts should be synced.

Users should have option to right click on documents on their PC’s and open them using Writely by default instead of using Microsoft Word. Or better, integrate Writely with Google Desktop, so that it is available to users even when they are offline. When users reconnect, Writely should sync these docs. Document permalinks are also required for easier sharing and visibility. Tagging is another area that needs rework. Right now tagging a document is painful task due to the dynamic DHTML drop down that takes time to load. Writely should better move over to quick and easy tagging method of Gmail. Also I haven’t heard about any Writely API, which should have been available by now.

Writely will prove to be an important part of the Google Office plans that include Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Spreadsheets and Writely. Google will be looking to add Writely to Google Apps, which will make it a default choice for small-medium businesses. Is Google Apps Appliance around the corner?

My Office2.0 consists of Writely, EditGrid, Gmail, Google Talk, and GotoMeeting. What is yours?

Tags: StartupSquad, Web2.0, Web_2.0, Office2.0, Collaboration, Writely, Editgrid