Solitude and Hope: Y'all Come Visit!

 

With so many free on-line applications being developed, it is quite useful to consider some of the primary elements of Office Suites currently available on the Web. Who, among the big or small companies, is currently providing the best examples? Here I describe some of the contenders for outstanding free, on-line collaborative Office tools.



ThinkFree

This office suite is one of my favorites!! ThinkFree is said by many to be the leader in next-generation of productivity solutions for platform independent, anytime, anywhere-computing. ThinkFree usability extends beyond PCs and is perfect for Internet-connected devices, including thin client and mobile computing platforms.

The award-winning ThinkFree Office is a Microsoft Office compatible application suite comprised of word processing, spreadsheet, and presentation graphics software-all usable online at absolutely no cost to you.

ThinkFree Office is automatically installed and upgraded over the Web and features integrated, Internet-based file sharing and storage as well as end-to-end security. Built for cross-platform functionality, ThinkFree Office is compatible with Windows, Macintosh, Unix and Linux systems.

It comes with a gigabyte of free online space and offers word processing, spreadsheets and presentations. ThinkFree takes a bit longer to load, but it has a large number of a bunch editing tools. Both the icons and toolbar emulate MS Office. An additional feature, which I especially like, allows you to publish your document (with pictures and links) as a post to your own blog.

Link To: THINKFREE

Open Office

Open Office is one of the most highly touted free office applications. OpenOffice.org is a multiplatform and multilingual office suite and an open-source project. It is compatible with all other major office suites, the product is free to download, use and distribute to others.

Link To: OPEN OFFICE

Zoho Writer

This is another of my favorite free on-line word processors!! You can access, edit and share documents from anywhere. Documents can be created, edited and re-formatted using their WYSIWYG editor; this word processor also provides for collaborative editing of documents, multiple users can work on a document simultaneously

Load your existing documents

With Zoho Writer, you can import Microsoft Word (DOC), Open Office text (ODT & SXW), HTML, RTF, JPG, GIF & PNG files, and generate PDF/DOC/ODT. You can also export documents created in Zoho Writer as PDF, DOC, ODT, SXW, RTF, HTML & text files

Again, one of my favorite features is that with Zoho Writer, you can directly post documents (with images, pictures and links) directly to your blogs (including WordPress, Blogger, TypePad and Live Journal).

Link To: ZOHO WRITER

Zoho Show

Zoho Show allows you to access, import, and edit presentations from anywhere. You can Load your existing presentations, the application can import Microsoft PowerPoint(.ppt, .pps) or OpenOffice Presentation(.sxi).

You can build and edit presentations on-the-fly using WYSIWYG editor. You can use Zoho Show for remote presentations. Zoho Show helps giving remote presentations with complete control for the presenter. The presenter can see the participants in the presentation. It has Flickr integration allowing you to pull publicly shared images from your Flickr account into your presentation.

Zoho Show is ideal for sales persons, business owners, teachers, students, freelancers ... and for just anybody else who wants to create presentations online.

Link To: ZOHO SHOW

Zoho Sheet

Zoho Sheet is an on-line spreadsheet, which allows for: number formatting, sorting and the insertion of comments. With Zoho Sheet, you can import and export Excel files and share sheets with multiple people to view or edit the same spreadsheet.

It supports more than 300 functions. You can create bar/line/pie 2D/3D charts and publish the charts in your websites/blogs.

Link To: ZOHO SHEET

Zoho Polls

Want to decide on something? Use Zoho Polls to narrow down your choices and get opinion from others. As with all the applications listed here, it is 100% free!!

Link To: ZOHO POLLS

ajaxWrite

ajaxWrite is a web-based word processor that can read and write Microsoft Word and other standard document formats. Anytime you need to open, read or write a word processor file, simply point your Firefox browser to www.ajaxwrite.com and in seconds a full-featured program will be available for you to open, edit, print and save.

ajaxWrite has been designed to look like Microsoft Word, making it easy for anyone to start using it without needing to learn a new program. ajaxWrite also handles all the popular document formats, so it is easy to share your files and collaborate with your co-workers and friends. Once finished with your document, you can easily save your work right to your hard drive. This keeps you organized and works in the same way that you are already accustomed to.

ajaxWrite works from a Firefox web browser on any operating system and on any device, no matter where you are or what computer you are using. In addition, because the application itself lives on the web, we handle the updates automatically so that you don't have to deal with costly upgrades or being stuck with old versions.

Link To: ajaxWrite

Eyespot

Bloggers are remixing videos by several emerging bands, and then posting the mash-ups online at Eyespot to share with the world. What makes this site different from others is that here the art form is legal.

Link To: EYESPOT

ajaxTunes

ajaxTunes is a web-based music player that lets you play high-quality streaming music straight from the Internet on any computer. It gives you all the basic controls (pause, fast-forward, rewind, selecting play list or artists) in a mini layout that won't clog up your desktop.

Try ajaxTunes immediately, it has been preloaded with a demo account containing songs from more than 25 artists. You can also create your own locker, add your own music collection and choose from over 40,000 songs to add to your personal play lists.

Link To : ajaxTUNES

ajaxXLS

ajaxXLS Viewer is a web-based spreadsheet viewer that allows you to easily open any .xls file within your Firefox browser. Compatibility with Microsoft Excel and OpenOffice allows ajaxXLS to preserve all your common cell formatting categories such as text styles, decimals, currencies, dates, and times as well as formulas, backgrounds and borders from the original documents.

The ajaxXLS web-based editor is still in the early stages of development. With it, you can write, edit and save standard spreadsheet files to your local machine. If you would like to try the sneak peak pre-release version of the ajaxXLS editor, please visit the link below.

Link To: ajaxXLS

gOffice: Web Office Suite

gOFFICE is a free online application offers desktop publishing and word processing, and spreadsheet applications

GOFFICE makes extensive use of XML, which makes it easier to define and transfer data between applications. This turned out to be important for gOFFICE's feature to convert a document into a PDF file.

Link To: gOFFICE

iRows

iRows provides easy data management. You can edit, compute, chart, sort, dynamic web data and more. Display your spreadsheet on any web site, change it here, and all sites change automatically.

Link To: iROWS

PDF Online

As a web based service, PDF Online allows you to quickly generate PDF documents from your PC, Mac, or Linux, from your home, your office or anywhere in the world.

Link To: PDF ONLINE

Thumbstacks

With Thumbstacks.com, you can make presentations, like slideshows, or outlines, right in your web browser. When you are done, you can share your presentations with anyone, anywhere, just by sending them a link.

Link To: THUMBSTACKS

Empressr

Empressr is the first Ajax/Flash-based web application that lets you create, share and store presentations online. It goes beyond current presentation applications by enabling you to incorporate rich media features, like streaming video and animation, to create and share the most dynamic presentations possible. With Empressr, all you need is a web browser to easily: create rich media presentations, share them with a client or team members, and store/access them at any time from any computer.

Link To: EMPRESSR

Zooomr

A step ahead of Flickr!! With Zooomr, photos are no longer just photos, they are emotions, ideas, and stories meant to be shared and explored. Zooomr helps you share them with the world. Here's how: you can show your favorite photos to the entire world in anyone's language, actually put your photos on the map, add sound to your photos.

Link To: ZOOOMR

Read All About This Amazing Story At My Companion Website: Et Cetera

Kyle MacDonald started out a post on his blog by stating:

This red paperclip is currently sitting on my desk next to my computer. I want to trade this paperclip with you for something bigger or better, maybe a pen, a spoon, or perhaps a boot. If you promise to make the trade I will come and visit you, wherever you are, to trade. So, if you have something bigger or better than a red paperclip to trade, email me with the details atoneredpaperclip@gmail.com. Hope to trade with you soon! Kyle. P. S. I'm going to make a continuous chain of 'up trades' until I get a house. Or an Island. Or a house on an island. You get the idea.

See a video of the CNN report on his feat here: CNN: One Red Paper Clip

Taking a paper clip and turning it into a house might sound like some over-the-top corny magic trick. But one year ago, the 26-year-old blogger from Montreal actually set out to do it, hoping to trade one red paper clip for something and that thing for something else, over and over again until, he dreamed, he just might end up with a house. Kyle MacDonald, it turns out, has actually pulled it off!! On Wednesday the journey is will come to an end just as MacDonald had dreamed: he will become the proud owner of a three-bedroom, 1,100-square-foot home provided by the town of Kipling, Saskatchewan!!!

This growing collection of video favorites includes humorous, artistic and commemorative videos found on the web. The selections presented here now include: Crazy Dolphins vs. Mad Cows, South Park: Trapped In the Closet, Tyger, The Saint of 9/11, Helen Thomas: First Lady of the Washington Press Corps, The Grateful Dead: The American National Anthem, and John F. Kennedy: The Church and the State. Watch for many others to come!! View them here, or on my companion website, Et Cetera.

Wild Dolphins vs. Mad Cows

You have to take a look at this batty, but charming video. "Crazy Dolphins vs. The Mad Cows" is an animated expose of kids talking about how Mad Cow Disease is now killing the poor, helpless Dolphins. Via Karate. You could just listen to the kids on this video spin their Cow versus Dolphin yarns all day long!!!

Link: Wild Dolphins vs. The Mad Cows

South Park: Trapped in the Closet

This South Park episode that was banned in Britain and pulled from its television schedule in the United States by Viacom has been nominated for an Emmy. The Emmy nominee for best animated program is the episode of South Park that was said to have angered both Tom Cruise and Isaac Hayes. The episode called, Trapped in the Closet, implied that Cruise was gay and lampooned Scientology. The episode can be viewed from the link that is provided below:

Link: South Park: Trapped in the Closet

“Tyger”: A Musical Animation Inspired by William Blake

Salon has unearthed this visually stunning animation by Guilherme Marcondes. It was commissioned and produced for Cultura Inglesa, a festival arranged annually by the British Council in Brazil. The only stipulation for the commission was that the work should indirectly evoke attention to English culture in some manner. Accordingly, Marcondes chose William Blake’s “The Tiger“ for inspiration.The story of the animation takes place in Sau Paulo’s chaotic urban setting. The tone of the piece moves between wonder and fear, marvel and danger. In doing so, it leaves the viewer free to experience a perspective of society undaunted by the pessimism engendered by unbridled romanticism. Marcondes writes on his website that he loves the poem because it “gives us a hint of wonder along with a fear of progress.” Watching this beautiful piece will leave you in a state of unbelievably quiet, unexpected admiration.

Link: Guilherme Marcondes" "The Tyger"

The Saint of 9/11

Saint of 9/11 is a documentary about Mychal Judge, the late FDNY chaplain who died in the 9/11 WTC tragedy. Some reviewers of this documentary expressed the hope that it will get national distribution so that many others will be able to see it.

Judge was gay, which would have caused him to be barred from the priesthood under the current Pope. He closely guarded the knowledge about his sexual orientation, because he was keenly aware that it could become an obstacle to his work with some of the beloved firemen to whom he ministered.

For many, the remembrance of his labors with and on behalf of persons suffering with AIDS during the early years of the crisis means the most. Beginning in the early 1980s, when HIV first began to emerge with its fury of terror, Mychal Judge was there to care for those who were alone, isolated from society and abandoned by their families. His kindness serves as a role model for us all.

A moving memorial to Mychal Judge, and an introduction to the documentary about him, is presented by the Equality Forum.

Link: The Saint of 9/11

Helen Thomas: First Lady of the Wahington Press Corps

Former White House Bureau Chief Helen Thomas has for years been recognized as The First Lady of the Washington Press Corps. Thomas served as the major journalistic pioneer who almost single-handedly spearheaded the destruction of barriers against women reporters in the media. During her years reporting news at the White House, she provided coverage of every President since John F. Kennedy.In November, 1960, Helen Thomas began covering then President elect John F. Kennedy, following him to the White House in January, 1961 as a member of the UPI team. It was during this first White House assignment that she began closing presidential press conferences with "Thank you, Mr. President." She was the only woman newspaper journalist to travel with President Nixon to China during his breakthrough trip in January, 1972. She also traveled around the world several times with Presidents Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush and Clinton. During the course of of those years, she covered every Economic Summit. Sources have frequently cited her as one of the 25 Most Influential Women in America.

Ann Coulter, Eat Your Heart Out....

A Video Presentation of Vintage Helen Thomas:

Helen Thomas with Jon Stewart

The Grateful Dead: The National Anthem at Candlestick Park

On April 12th, 1993, Jerry Garcia, Bob Weir, and Vince Welnick of the Grateful Dead sang The National Anthem in Candlestick Park, San Francisco. A large group of Vietnam Veterans was present to join with the Grateful Dead at that memorable event. It had multi-layered meanings as a statement of the perseverance of young Americans in the name of preserving our freedoms. And so it does for many of us today. The link below provides access to a video that returns us just for a moment to that historic occasion:

The Grateful Dead: The American National Anthem

President John F. Kennedy: The Church and the State

During his first presidential campaign, John F. Kennedy spoke directly about the Consitutional demand for the separation of Church and State in America. This is, of course, a timely issue now, with the many concerns today about the Evangelical Christian movement's influence upon the Bush administration and its political decisions. A link to the video of this historic address is accessible from the site below:

Link: John F. Kennedy: The Church and the State

My companion website, Et Cetera: Public and Private Curiosities, has quickly become The World's 4th Fastest Growing WordPress Website! Please Visit To Check It Out!!

Oh, my goodness...what a totally unexpected surprise!! It's just been one little website hoping to be a small voice for the lives and rights of everyday people everywhere. My very deep gratitude to all of you readers--I really am quite "Wilde at Heart" right now!! (And trying hard not to give in to a bit of narcissistic grandiosity as a compensatory defense against an ever so slight, transient and uncharacteristic lack of self-confidence). So...thanks...thanks...thanks....

The World"s Fastest Growing WordPress.com Blogs:

1. MyScribbles: Write-ups of an Afghan

2. Marketallica

3. Yet another digital life

4. Et Cetera: Publick and Privat Curiosities

5. Giggle Water Review

6. LDS Patriot

7. Laksa Diaries

I hope that readers found my earlier article that celebrated the courage of Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens and underscored the pivotal importance of the Hamdan decision to be of some value. Along this same line, Andrew Sullivan posted a brief note this morning on The Daily Dish for his readers. Sullivan's note is, in itself, a "4th of July" gift:

The De-Throning of King George

My reflections on the Hamdan decision in the Sunday Times of London are here. Money quote:

"America is not in essence a geographical entity. When it was founded, it occupied a fraction of the land it now does. Nor is it defined by an ethnic group or a royal line. Its core is essentially a piece of paper, a written constitution, a formal set of procedures designed, before everything else, to protect individual liberty. At the heart of that liberty is the right to a fair trial and the insistence that nobody — especially not the president — can take that away."

Happy Independence Day. It came early this year.

And from Me to Sullivan: Sometimes You Are Just the Best!

 

Bush Declares Opposition to Marriages Between a Man and a Flag

In a recent article by Andy Borowitz in Truthdig, it was reported that, as a definitive act of Independence Day Patriotism, President George W. Bush has proposed a constitutional amendment banning marriages between a man and a flag. Many important political observers believe that The President's amendment will become the critical issue, which will lead Republicans to a dramatic sweep of the 2006 midterm elections. According to the Borowitz report:

In a nationally televised address from the Oval Office, the president said that the proposed amendment was intended to protect two embattled American institutions: traditional marriage and the American flag.“We must define marriage as a union between a man and a woman, and not between a man and a flag,” Mr. Bush said. “Additionally, just as we seek to protect flags from being burned, we must protect them from being married.”

The president’s proposal seemed intended to cause trouble among congressional Democrats, many of whom have no stated opinion on the issue of man-flag unions.

But 2004 Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry was quick out of the box in response to the president’s speech, telling reporters, “Before the end of the day, I intend to have at least three or four different positions on this issue.”

On the other side of the aisle, Mr. Bush’s proposed amendment received immediate support from Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.), who suggested expanding its scope to ban marriage between a man and any inanimate object.

“We should not only forbid marriage between a man and a flag, we should also forbid it between a man and an inflatable love-doll,” he said, adding quickly, “Not that I know about that sort of thing.”

So that all of you have a chance to see just what these Flag-Marrying characters really look like, pictured below are two men who are very highly suspected by the FBI, CIA and NIA of being Married to Flags at this very moment:

 

I, hereby pledge allegiance that I, personally, will never, never, ever marry a flag or any other inanimate object, including plastic inflatable love-dolls. Thank you, Mr. President, for standing firm for our American tradition of moral values!

Supreme Court Strikes Down President Bush's Threats to American Civil Liberties

All freedom-loving Americans should salute the courage of 86-year-old Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens, who wrote the majority opinion in Hamdan v. Rumsfeld that was announced on Thursday. The ruling boldly and irrecovably struck down the military tribunals Bush set up to try Guantanamo detainees. But of far more importance, according to Jack M. Balkin, The Knight Professor of Constitutional Law and the First Amendment and Director, The Information Society Project at Yale Law School, this decision “effectively undermines the Administration’s strongest claims about Presidential power.” Further, this Supreme Court ruling may well constitute the legal framework necessary to halt the more egregious of Bush’s civil liberties-infringing programs—like warrantless wiretapping and holding terrorism suspects without trial.

Not any longer! A lot of those legal opinions became inoperative as of 10 a.m. Thursday morning.

And without the cover of the now-discredited theory of sweeping unilateral executive power, the criminal law of the United States is again in control. Walter Dellinger, Professor of Law at Duke University , described this Supreme Court decision as, " The most important decision on presidential power. Ever." He went on to explain:

Today the court holds that common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions applies to the conflict against al-Qaida. As Justice Kennedy expressly notes in his (controlling) concurring opinion, Section 2441 of the U.S. Criminal Code defines a "war crime" as including any conduct "which constitutes a violation of common Article 3 of the international conventions signed at Geneva." And the statute makes any "war crime"—when committed by any member of the U.S. Armed Forces, or against any member of the U.S. Armed Forces, or against a U.S. national—punishable by life imprisonment, or in certain cases, by death. Now that the fig leaf of untenable legal opinions has been stripped away, there will be great resistance by covered officials to complying with directives that may violate such a serious federal criminal statute.