Writely – The Web Word Processor

I've been working with Writely – an online web word processor – for the past couple of days. So far, it appears far superior to other writing collaboration tools (and wikis) I have seen. Beyond the word processing and wiki like functionality (spell check, comments, multiple save as options- to Word, a PDF, etc), it includes a lot of fun bells and whistles, such as document RSS feed functionality to allow the tracking of collaborator changes on your feed aggregator. Overall, the interface is simple and clean. As a (former?) Word user, I had a seamless transition to Writely. My online learning partner in Japan ("hi", Bill!) and I are going to give it a try as a collaboration tool for our IU IST course (thanks, Bill!). With the time difference between NYC and Japan, we aren't going to be able to have a lot of opportunity for "live chats", so we are looking into other collaboration options (outside our class interface), such as Yahoo! Groups. I'll report back on how he and I do on our first assignment due next Monday. A word of caution: Writely is in BETA! While it is very slick and cool, I plan to take advantage of the "save as" function to make periodic backups to my computer.