The Future As Seen By Me In 2010

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Well looky here, things one has scanned in eh. (ignore the photo, that's some guy that made some accounting software, not sure what became of him ;) MIKE RIVERSDALE is fuming. The expensive headphones he bought in Sydney three weeks ago have just died. His first reaction is not to randomly spill expletives into his coffee, but to use his iPhone to vent his frustration to his Twitter con- tacts, under the moniker Miramar Mike. "I will also put, 'What should I do?' It's a conversation. I'm reaching out to the people following me." The council predicts hand-held digital devices such as smartphones will rule the world in 2040. They already rule the life of Mr Riversdale, whose company WaveAdept helps businesses adapt - their computing sys- tems to allow staff to work from anywhere - and with anyone. In order of fre- equency, he uses his iPhone to tweet (1136 followers; 8363 tweets since joining), e-mail, make phone calls and use online services, such as checki
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Zoho Month ... What Is Zoho?

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It's all very well me telling you it's going to be Zoho month if you know what Zoho is. If not, check these definitions out, starting with their own answer:
Zoho is a suite of online applications (services) that you sign up for and access from our Website. The applications are free for individuals and some have a subscription fee for organizations. Our vision is to provide our customers (individuals, students, educators, non-profits, small and medium sized businesses) with the most comprehensive set of applications available anywhere (breadth); and for those applications to have enough features (depth) to make your user experience worthwhile.

Wikipedians have this to say about Zoho:
The Zoho Office Suite is a web office suite which includes tools for word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, databases, note-taking, wikis, CRM, project management, invoicing and other applications. Being web-native, all Zoho applications are operating system independent.

What does Zoho offer?
A stuff load (which is going to make for a busy month) - this is the list of products:
  • Zoho Writer - Online Word Processor
  • Zoho Projects - Project Management Software
  • Zoho Sheet - Spreadsheets. Online
  • Zoho CRM - On-Demand CRM Solution
  • Zoho Show - Online Presentation Tool
  • Zoho Invoice - Online Invoicing. Quick and Easy
  • Zoho Notebook - Online Note Taker
  • Zoho Meeting - Web Conferencing
  • Zoho Wiki - Easy to use, full-featured Wiki
  • Zoho Creator - Online Database Application
  • Zoho Share - Centralized Public Repository
  • Zoho DB & Reports - Online Reporting & BI Service
  • Zoho Planner - Online Organizer
  • Zoho People - HRIS & Recruitment Management
  • Zoho Chat - Make Group Decisions Faster
  • Zoho Business - Online Business Solutions
  • Zoho Start - Online Document Management
  • Zoho Mail (private beta) - Web-based Email Service
*phew*


And finally, who are Zoho?
What's the company behind them - again, this from their own website:
Zoho is an Office Productivity Suite from AdventNet Inc. Founded in 1996, AdventNet is headquartered in Pleasanton, CA with offices in North America, Europe and Asia. AdventNet focuses on building affordable software for businesses.

AdventNet offerings include software for IT Operations Management (www.manageengine.com), IT Security Management (www.securecentral.com) and database technologies and serve over 8000 enterprise customers worldwide.


Before I get into the nitty gritty of Zoho what are the thoughts I already have and assumptions I take into  Zoho Month:
  • "As a heavy Google user Zoho isn't going to come up to par"
  • "Zoho is stuck between offering Microsoft-type apps on-line without truly using the connectedness of the Web like Google. They therefore may get squashed between two very large players"
  • "I love and am staggered the breadth of offerings"
  • "They don't seem to be UI focussed"
  • "It will take some to move me from Google but if they do I will probably love them forever"

Comments

  1. Anonymous3 September 2008 at 13:36

    Mike - all I can say is that I spent the day at Zoho today - I held some of the same preconceptions that you do. I'm happy to say they've largely been resolved by

    1) some products that are coming on stream in the next days and weeks
    2) discussion I had with Zoho people who understand the issues but have an excellent strategic level picture of where they are and where they need to be at

    Oh and your list of Zoho offering is complete - but won't be in two days time

    ;-)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous3 September 2008 at 17:23

    How useful would a service like Zoho Invoice be to a New Zealander? I've found many similar Web 2.0 applications to be, well, heavily US-centric.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Mike Riversdale3 September 2008 at 17:49

    A good point, let me see if I can work it out during the month (keep me on track :-)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Anonymous4 September 2008 at 18:49

    @billbennettnz and @Mike Riversdale

    We are not US-centric, we have customers all over the world, especially from New Zealand and Australia. Almost all the features in Zoho Invoice can be customized based on your needs. You can use the free account and try it yourself. If you face any issues, let us know, we will be happy to help. You can reach us at support[at]zohoinvoice(dot)com

    Happy invoicing
    Siva
    Team Zoho

    ReplyDelete
  5. blogger28 January 2009 at 06:50

    Zoho Creator is a awesome robust tool. However, I don't need all of those features. So, I opted to use anyInput.com to store my lists, it's simple and more easier to use. It is between a full featured database and a simple list maker. My 50 cents.

    ReplyDelete

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