OzHub, the Macquarie Telecom-led cloud computing alliance, has come down firmly on the side of Optus over the copyright controversy surrounding Optus TV Now, warning that any moves to change the law "risk branding Australia a global luddite state."
Telstra ISP BigPond is offering the ThinkFree range of online office applications rebranded 'BigPond Office' under an exclusive deal which means that if you are not a BigPond customer they are no long accessible from Australia or New Zealand.
Existing ThinkFree users can get access, but any attempt by a non-registered user to access the ThinkFree web site from an Australian IP address automatically redirects to the BigPond Office website which only accepts registrations from customers with a BigPond email address. BigPond was non-committal on any plans to make the service available to non-BigPond users. "Wait and see", spokesman Craig Middleton said.
However the site seems to suggest that the apps could soon be made available to others. It says: "Use of BigPond Office is unmetered for most BigPond Broadband members. Download/browsing charges may apply for other customers."
The service itself is also free to BigPond customers but BigPond plans to soon introduce 'BigPond Office DocBoss' which seems likely to be charged. It enables users to save their documents on their PC, Mac or Linux machine and comes with "added features and a higher level of technical support."
Telstra launched BigPond Office on 1 November with three initial applications, all claimed to produce documents compatible with their Microsoft equivalents: BigPond Show, BigPond Write and BigPond Cal. Online conversion of these documents to PDF is also provided. Middleton declined to comment on plans to extend the range, except to say there would be a further announcement in February. However, at present ThinkFree seems to offer only these online applications.
Middleton said that Telstra was hosting and offering the applications as 'white label' version of the ThinkFree software, rather than simply reselling the ThinkFree service.
ThinkFree announced in February 2007 that it had more than 250,000 registered users made up of small and medium business owners and their staff, university professors, teachers, entrepreneurs, parents, bloggers and students. They came from more than 200 countries, including Mauritania, Anguilla, and Saint Kitts and Nevis. The greatest number of users come from five regions: the United States, South Korea, Brazil, the United Kingdom and Canada.
The online office space is now becoming increasingly crowded and competitive with giants Google and Microsoft both in the game. However another small player that seems to be leading in terms of range of apps is Zoho.com. It reported in August that it had passed the 300,000 user mark. And last month it pipped both Microsoft and Google to to post with the launch of a hosted database application, Zoho DB .
David Frost
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