Do you Zoho?

**Begin computer nerd speak**

For sometime now I have thought that many people don't need all the features of a product like Microsoft Office. They want a solid word processor and a solid spreadsheet program, a good email client and calendar, and perhaps a few other little tools to do most of their work. Google has made a stab at creating a free, online set of office tools that are very functional, but still not up to what I think will make people not want to use the MS products. Recently I read about Zoho, a new set of browser based tools, what Robert Scoble calls Work 2.0, that I think are a much more fullfilled promise of what these products can look like.

Its nice that MS does provide a method for churches to purchase software at a huge discount, but when you start adding up ~$75 each for MS Office, it can still mean a big chunk of money to deal out. There will always be a need for the most feature rich products like Office but for most people they don't need or even want all that extra stuff. Today's churches can save money, have the ability to share information from ANYWHERE, and still get all the things done they need done with nothing more than a browser. When you see Dell selling systems with a Linux OS already installed, using an all online office suite becomes even more appealing, again savings hundreds of dollars.

I hope to see more options like this in the future. Not because I hate MS, just the opposite actually, but I do think that $400 for a desktop OS is crazy, and $200 for a basic wordprocessor is just as bad. MS does have some amazing products. Despite their flaws, Windows and all the other software that runs on it, is a solid platform. For churches not needing to spend the money, or for that matter, students, small business owners, and grandmothers, it just makes sense to use a good and free solution.

**End nerd speak**