An Online Office Suite That's A Real Alternative To Microsoft Or Google [1]

An internet-hosted cloud-based office software suite is not always the first option that springs to mind when you're looking for software that allows you to edit documents, spreadsheets and presentations. But as Microsoft and Google are keen to point out, it does have its benefits. There's nothing to install, you're always running the latest version, and you can access your files from anywhere that has web access. Which is especially handy if you travel a lot, or like to work at both the office and at home, or if you collaborate on documents with other people.

While Microsoft and Google would like you to think that they've got the online office market sewn up, there are actually some pretty good alternative players out there if you're keen to avoid the big 2 goliaths. Team Lab offers an excellent product to companies, at a price to match. But for personal users it's actually free. Just head to http://personal.teamlab.com [3] and start using the system straight away (or sign up if you want to be able to save your work on their servers).

For the techies among you, TeamLab Office is even available as a free, open source download that you can host on your own server, and thus provide your own secure cloud-based office system for your family, your company, or just yourself. But if you'd rather just start using it, rather than running your own service, http://personal.teamlab.com [3] is where you need to surf to.