Google Docs and MS Office are cool, but ThinkFree is better.

After thinking about it, the only really good thing about Google Docs are the collaboration capabilities. Google Docs doesn’t nearly have the amount of tools that Office has. I find myself often using Google Docs to collaborate, but then I export it as a Word document and I use MS Word to make sure it looks good. So, Google Docs is useful to a point, but it is lacking.

The main benefit that Google Docs Provides is collaboration which is very helpful. It is amazing how much more productive a group can be when they can all edit a document at the same time. On the other hand, it’s a nightmare to group edit a document with Microsoft Word. Usually one person starts it and then only one person can edit it as it is passed around. This makes the work go much slower and you have to communicate very well as a group so that you know who has which version.

Today, after reading about how there are rumors about Google acquiring ThinkFree, I thought that I would try out this unfamiliar company’s product. After giving it a try all I have to say is that Google Docs would be much better if it were like the ThinkFree Office.

ThinkFree Office is so close in appearance and functionality to MS Office that it boggles my mind. I can’t believe that they’re not getting sued. Just look at this screenshot of their powerpoint tool:

When I am using the ThinkFree Office I feel like I am using a desktop application. The initial loading time is longer but it is overall fast and has all of the great features that you are use to using with MS Office. It is also so much like MS Office that you don’t have to learn any new tricks. This suite is pretty slick. It even let’s me do a lot of the shortcut keys that seriously increase my productivity with Excel.

Give ThinkFree a try. You’ll be glad you did. I’m just disappointed that I haven’t heard of them before now.