freeware for Windows bloggers

Review: Windows Live Writer Beta Makes Blogging Better - News by InformationWeek, from a few weeks ago, when my Blogger Beta was biffed--

If you're a blogger, chances are you do most of your writing directly in a Web browser. Microsoft has now rolled out a standalone blogging application, Windows Live Writer, which not only works with the Live family but with Blogger, LiveJournal, and any blogging system that supports one of a broad range of APIs.

So why use a standalone program to do your blogging, when almost every online blogging service out there already has a fairly powerful WYSIWYG interface that runs in your Web browser? After working with Windows Live Writer, I think the answer is pretty self-evident. For one, Live Writer offers a more consistent and less browser-dependent way to blog, especially if you're dealing with many blogs hosted on multiple services. It also provides you with an interface that's not shackled to the limits of what can be presented in a browser without plug-ins or add-ons.

Officially, Live Writer is still in beta, but it's solid enough at this point that I could use it for production work without any major hitches. Once installed, it can be immediately configured to work with many common blogging systems, including Blogger, LiveJournal, TypePad, WordPress, and, of course, Windows Live Spaces. If you don't know what your blog runs, you can simply point Live Writer at the blog's homepage, submit your user name and password, and Live Writer will automatically discover the necessary data. I have blogs set up through Movable Type, another popular blogging and content-management system, and Live Writer was able to figure it out without much trouble. ...(more)

ThinkFree

Here's an article from INFORMATION WEEK that talks about a freeware suite that mimics Microsoft Office and may be on Google's acquisition radar screen.

While ThinkFree is a free suite, there's also an enterprise Server Edition that includes administrative features for $30 annually. In addition, ThinkFree has instituted a system where you earn "points" (I earned 100 by signing up) which you can exchange for storage space, clip art, and other features "to be added in future releases."

Assuming that the rumors are correct, where will ThinkFree fit into Google's product lineup? Google already has a popular word processor and spreadsheet application, but not a presentation application. It's possible that Google might pick up only ThinkFree's Show -- or it might meld ThinkFree's efficient interface and social networking components with Google's other offerings.

In any case, along with other free office suites such as OpenOffice.org, ThinkFree's online suite may give users who are nervous about Office 2007 something to think about.


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ThinkFree Online Beta
ThinkFree Corp.
www.thinkfree.com
Price: Free
Summary: ThinkFree is an online office suite that goes the extra mile to look and work like Microsoft Office -- but what would Google do with it?
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