Exclusive: Peepel takes on Google Docs&Spreadsheets
By Vivek | April 3rd, 2007 at 01:49 am ET
Launching today, Peepel is going to be the latest entrant into the Online Office Suite league. And I think the Brisbane, Australia based startup is well on it’s way to shake up things in the online collaboration space. Peepel is led by Stephen Kelly who has over 20 years experience in IT, working for companies Australia and in Europe including Diversy Lever, Aon, and Data 3.
Peepel is starting off with 3 collaboration products including WebSheet, WebWriter, and Desktop. All these products from Peepel are presented in an untraditional yet tightly integrated manner. Peepel Desktop acts as the workspace where multiple PeepelWindows and applications can be opened, all in the same browser window. Talking in widget terms, each of these applications load on the same page giving the convenience and feel of Personalized Homepage+Productivity Widgets. However unlike Google that doesn’t offer any widgets working directly against D&S, Peepel loads full-blown document and spreadsheet editors. Besides that, PeepelPanel(WYSIWYG editing toolset) keeps your in right content by switching feature-set as you move between word and spreadsheet editing.
Peepel delivers application performance gain by storing data locally on user machine and using the server as a long term data store. Since Peepel spreadsheet is built on JavaScript, it doesn’t result in round trip to the server unless user saves the data. Javascript backend also gives you instantaneously results. This is in contrast to apps from Google and EditGrid where the calculations for each field are done on the server and results are than sent to the browser. In effect, Google+EG to spend more resources on making their applications highly scalable to provide faster data refresh and calculations for spreadsheet users.
Peepel also few other smart features like FileManager, WorkSpace manager to making file management easier. Peepel is already hard at work to launch Peepel WebMaps that will be a bit different from the existing options and show different layers of information like transportation maps but on top of base countries / states / coast data. Peepel WebWriter would also see major feature upgrades pretty soon and to function more of a content aggregator at Peepel with users being able to drag spreadsheets, maps, chat history right into the document window.
Recollecting, it was only yesterday that I wrote about the need for widget enabled services to develop productivity apps instead of relying in 3rd party apps to be integrated into their ecosystem. And now we already have Peepel delivering on that need, starting from document and spreadsheet editing with plans to get more onto your workspace. I think with Peepel’s launch I would have to re-evaluate my own homepage/personalized page options for which i don’t really have a clear direction.
As for the browser junkies, Peepel currently supports Firefox, IE 7, and Mozilla seamonkey. Safari should be in next, but no date on that right now.
Links:
Peepel
on April 5th, 2007 at 8:17 pm
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on April 5th, 2007 at 9:43 pm
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on April 9th, 2007 at 11:27 am
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on April 12th, 2007 at 12:31 pm
[…] Lanched last week, Peepel is the latest entrant into the online docs space, and it’s prettier, faster, has more functionality, and gosh darn it, I like it. Unlike Google Docs, where you are constantly heading back to the start page to access a different document, Peepel’s app emulates the look and feel of a typical office suite, allowing multiple documents to be open in the same space. The Peepel folks have gone out of their way to give the app a slick UI, including two nifty little features called “Stack” and “Half Maximize” that allows you to have all your documents open in the window, and page through them, much like the pages in a book. There’s no more heading back to the main page to find the next document that you need, and no more individual browser tabs or windows to have all the documents you need for a project open at the same time. Each document can also be resized as needed using a very simple drag on the document outline. […]
on April 12th, 2007 at 1:55 pm
[…] Number of new startups launched and the ones that get funded have always been on the uptick, although not a sharp one. Toronto based Octopz is yet another one. Today Octopz, the on-demand online collaboration software that launches next week at Web20 Expo, revealed that is has raised undisclosed amount of funds from GrowthWorks Commercialization Fund. Octopz offers couple of things that everyone else in the space seem to miss out in their development cycle - support instant messaging, voice (VoIP) and video (webcam) conferencing alongside the regular collaboration tools. In effect this means that you no longer need to check on people if they are using Skype or Google Talk. Just get done with the works, with all the required tools from one location. Besides this Octopz would offer on-Screen annotation, support for MS Office files(?), ACL, branding, and more for $99 per month per license. Hmm. $99? Okay clearly targeted at SMB users. Rest of us now get back to Google Apps or Peepel or CentralDesktop or Coventi. […]
on April 30th, 2007 at 10:58 pm
[…] How much so ever Google, Yahoo, Microsoft try, and and how much so ever you want, there will always be a mix of services and applications that you would eventually use from each of them. If you are not using apps from one of these biggies, you would definitely be using services from smart startups like Editgrid or Peepel or …..Eitherway you will have your documents and files located around the web, with no possible way to access them easily. OpenId solves some problems, but only if you want to login to those sites. What if you just want to manage your online content from one place? More so like your digital media center where all your digital content stays put. […]
on May 9th, 2007 at 2:59 pm
[…] Success of any application in Office20 space eventually depends on enabling collaboration. Emphasis is on collaborating without loss of data. I think Peepel has nailed this aspect in the office suite that was launched just over a month back. In a set of significant upgrades to the collaboration suite, Peepel has enabled as many people to work on a single document at once. […]
on November 27th, 2007 at 3:28 pm
The Peepel folks have gone out of their way to give the app a slick UI, including two nifty little features called %u201CStack%u201D and %u201CHalf Maximize%u201D that allows you to have all your documents open in the window, and page through them, much like the pages in a book. There%u2019s no more heading back to the main page to find the next document that you need, and no more individual browser tabs or windows to have all the documents you need for a project open at the same time.
on November 27th, 2007 at 3:31 pm
Why share a document on google vs shared it on his site directly…?