ThinkFree Office
Thinkfree.com and Thinkfree Office 3 | |
Developer(s) | Hancom, Inc. (used to be ThinkFree Inc.) |
---|---|
Initial release | 2001 |
Stable release | 4.0.1480 (November 22, 2010 ) [±] |
Preview release | N/A (N/A) [±] |
Written in | Java, Ajax |
Operating system | Cross-platform |
Available in | English (AU/UK/US), French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Spanish, Chinese(Traditional and Simplified), Polish, Russian |
Type | Office suite |
License | proprietary closed source |
Website |
www |
ThinkFree Office is a proprietary office suite written in Java that runs on Windows, Linux, Macintosh and Android platforms.
Thinkfree Office product family include Thinkfree Online which is the first MS-compatible web-based online office in the world,[1] ThinkFree Office includes a word processor (Write), a spreadsheet (Calc), a presentation program (Show), and a WYSIWYG HTML and blog editor (Note).
The ThinkFree brand and software products are owned by Hancom, who also sell a separate desktop office suite under their own brand, Hancom Office. While ThinkFree Office reads and writes Microsoft Office file formats (.doc, .xls, and .ppt) and has a look and feel similar to Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint, Hancom Office uses a different set of proprietary file formats.
ThinkFree Online
ThinkFree Online[2] is a web-based edition that runs Write, Calc, Show and Note in a browser using a mix of Java applet and Ajax technologies. It is free to use for a 30-day trial period, except for users in Australia and New Zealand,[3][4] where only paid members of BigPond may use the service. A way around this is to click on the already have account button at the start page and then click sign up.
Each user is allotted 1 GB of online storage space for saving documents. ThinkFree Online lets users collaborate on documents with others, publish to a blog or the web. ThinkFree Online also keeps a version history per document of the changes that are made.
The Java applet version, or Power Edit mode, exists for all three applications, and appears to be an applet port of the original desktop versions written in Java. Ajax-based Quick Edit mode (offered for Write and Show only) can run without the need of starting up an applet. Also, ThinkFree Online supports a synchronization manager utility to keep documents on the desktop, online and mobile workspaces automatically updated.
ThinkFree Docs
ThinkFree Docs is an online community of publishers who share a variety of documents, spreadsheets, and presentations. It is intended to work in conjunction with ThinkFree.
ThinkFree Server
ThinkFree Server is a web-based office solution for servers. Without installing a separate office program on your PC, you can edit your documents and even engage in document collaboration through a server. From a managerial viewpoint, all document resources of the company can be concentrated in one place to improve security and prevent data loss.[5]
ThinkFree focuses solely on its office productivity suite compared to Google, Microsoft, and Zoho. This software, which is comparable both in user interface and feature set to Microsoft Office 2003 or LibreOffice, is written in Java to allow for easy porting across platforms, and as such looks and operates exactly the same way whether it's installed locally or run from a server. This same Java dependency, unfortunately, makes it hard to run in mobile Web browsers. What you get in exchange for the extra overhead that Java introduces is a Web app that's exactly as capable as its desktop counterpart, without any of the features that are arbitrarily missing from the Office Web Apps. Ranking the Office comparibility, ThinkFree is considered the best among other popular web-offices including Google Docs and Zoho Docs.[6]
The ThinkFree Server Integrator is a self-hosted web office server that allows users to add web office functionality into their existing web applications or portals. Unlike other hosted applications providers, ThinkFree Server Integrator allows private enterprises to develop their own custom and secure virtual offices.[7]
Hancom became a VMware partner, and launched ThinkFree Server for Zimbra, which can be integrated to VMware Zimbra Collaboration Suite to deliver a comprehensive, web-based solution for office productivity, collaboration, and email.[8]
ThinkFree Mobile
ThinkFree Mobile is a version of ThinkFree office available for the Android platform and bundled with some phones.
ThinkFree Mobile features view, edit and create functions for text and spreadsheet documents, and slideshow presentations, and PDF file viewer. High compatibility and its relatively low cost named itself "the best overall value."[9]
ThinkFree Mobile has been pre-installed in many mobile devices such as Samsung's Galaxy Nexus,[10] Fujitsu's tablets[11] and HCL's (one of the biggest manufacturer of mobile devices in India).[12]
See also
- List of office suites
- List of word processors
- List of online spreadsheets
- Online office suite
- Office Open XML software
- Formula editor
- Collaborative real-time editor
References
- ↑ http://www.applelinks.com/index.php/more/6005
- ↑ http://member.thinkfree.com/member/goLandingPage.action
- ↑
- Comer, Stuart. "ThinkFree? Think again: it's now a BigPond exclusive", iT Wire, November 5, 2007.
- ↑
- Walsh, Des. "ThinkFree Not So Free for Aussies and Kiwis", Thinking Home Business, December 9, 2007.
- ↑ http://www.thinkfree.com/thinkfree/thinkfreeMain.jsp
- ↑ Cunningham, Andrew. "The Great Ars Cloud office suite shootout". Ars Technica.
- ↑ Hancom Takes Vision of Information Independence to the Globe
- ↑ http://sony.broadcastnewsroom.com/article/ThinkFree-Integrates-With-VMware-Zimbra-to-Deliver-Comprehensive-Web-Based-Office-Productivity-Solution--2163440
- ↑ http://www.networkworld.com/news/2012/030512-office-suites-android-256855.html?page=3
- ↑ http://www.dt.co.kr/contents.html?article_no=2011122802010960746002
- ↑ http://www.zdnet.co.kr/news/news_view.asp?artice_id=20120829111454
- ↑ http://www.watblog.com/2012/07/31/hancom-and-hcl-team-up-to-bring-thinkfree-mobile-office-to-india/