Dan G

Microsoft Office is a suite. So is OpenOffice.org. The advantage is that once you have mastered the basics in one app - say printing, saving, spell-checking etc. - you find that the same methods work in all the other apps in the suite. The same buttons, icons, dialogue boxes and interactions. It's a great time saver and means you can feel right at home with powerful software quickly.

Zoho provide almost a complete online office suite - wordprocessor, spreadsheet, presentations, database - the main guys are there. However in using them I was very disappointed to find that each program had a *totally* different look-and-feel to them - they were, in effect, four entirely separate applications. They in no way felt part of a suite, and do not have any of the advantages outlined above.

I suspect Zoho managed to generate so much software in such little time by having separate groups working on the projects in effective isolation - little or no co-ordination on such matters as the GUI. I sincerely hope Zoho overcome this and work to unify their offerings - if they do, they will have a killer on their hands.

For a good review of Zoho's suite, click here.