Online office suite ThinkFree has released a desktop version of their software designed for use on netbooks, mobile internet devices (MIDs) and other computers with small screens. ThinkFree Mobile runs on Windows, Mac, and Linux and presents and alternative to OpenOffice.org or Microsoft Office. You can also synchronize your desktop documents with ThinkFree online. Users get 1GB of space for free, or up to 2GB if they happen to be Fujitsu netbook owners (I’m assuming the two companies have worked out some sort of deal).
I alluded to this development in a post earlier today. I was going to link to another publication that had interviewed me for comment on this development. But that article doesn’t appear to be online, so instead if you want to read more, check out this post I wrote up for Download Squad. You can also see a demo video of ThinkFree Mobile after the page break. Warning: the audio kind of stinks,but if you want to know whether it’s worth downloading this application, you should probably take a look at the video.
Update: You can read more about ThinkFree Office and my thoughts on the product at Computer World.
!!!FREE COPY!!!
You can get a free license key for a full edition of ThinkFree Mobile by filling out the survey on the website. Follow the link, then click “Buy”. It auto-redirects to the survey page. They said it would take up to one month to get the key, so I assume it doesn’t expire. Hope not, since I don’t own a netbook (yet).
I got the license key less than two weeks later, and installed it on my IdeaPad S10. Some features from MS Office are missing (such as certain PowerPoint custom animation options), but it read my existing documents with no problems.
There doesn’t seem to be a presentation app in the free SoftMaker 2006, is there? That would be a deal-breaker for me, unfortunately.
I tried it for 20 minutes – it’s huge, it’s slow, it’s hanging while reading simple Word document. I’d rather give a chance to SoftMaker 2006 free edition (http://www.softmakeroffice.com/ )
I have to agree with “tst”. SoftMaker Office is a much better choice for net books than Thinkfree. SoftMaker is much faster, uses fewer resources, has absolutely no trouble reading complicated Office files: all the qualities I am looking for in a net book office suite.
Plus, it is free.