Printer Friendly Version

ThinkFree has earned over 700,000 users worldwide with its free online office document tools, and now it's trying to expand that appeal to small- and mid-size businesses with the ThinkFree Server Enterprise. It works safely behind firewalls, and promises easy document creation and collaboration tools.

ThinkFree started back in 1999 and was acquired by Haansoft Inc, its current parent company, in 2003. Most of the company's 150 employees are in Seoul, South Korea, although it maintains a satellite office in the United States. it's been selling desktop versions of its products in brick-and-mortar U.S. stores since 1999, beginning online sales in 2006.

Enterprise isn't a new area for ThinkFree. While it offers a desktop suite, as well as versions for the Android operating system and netbooks, it also offers a standard server edition. The new Server Enterprise edition, however, differs in that it works behind a firewall and integrates with existing services.

All ThinkFree versions include three core office applications for word documents, spreadsheets, and presentations. One crucial feature, says Edward Coloma, managing director for ThinkFree in the U.S., is that they offer roundtrip compatibility with Microsoft Office documents. The people behind ThinkFree know that the majority of office users have Microsoft Office, and so it sticks with the established Office formats.

ThinkFree's three office applications are built in Java and work with Windows, Macintosh, and Linux computers. They also have a small footprint, says Coloma, taking up just 70MB of space. That compactness has made them easy to adapt for mobile devices, he says. Look for a ThinkFree smartphone edition next year.

The philosophy behind the line, says Coloma, is that people should be able to access and work on their documents anytime. That's why ThinkFree products, including the free version, come with online storage.

Collaborating with Enterprise

ThinkFree Server Enterprise joins a family of products that debuted in 2006. Customers initially wanted a version of the ThinkFree suite that would integrate with existing services. To satisfy demand, the company created ThinkFree Server Integrator. For this product, however, the company combined the same functionality found in the online suite with collaboration tools and made it work behind firewalls.

A software-only product, ThinkFree Server Enterprise can be purchased online or from company sales representatives. The server requirements for the installation are surprisingly low. Any Windows computer can be a server, as long as it has 1GB of RAM and 500GB of storage. Most ThinkFree versions offer 1GB of online storage space, but since this version in self-hosted and sits behind a firewall, there's no storage limit.

The suite's collaboration tools let users share documents individually or with a group. Sending documents works with controls in the suite itself; there's no need to use e-mail. If you're sending to a group, only one person at a time will be able to edit the document. You can add a note when forwarding a document, and you can also see what changes other users have made. A future ThinkFree upgrade will offer versioning, says Coloma, but he couldn't say when that will happen.

The price of ThinkFree Server Enterprise is $40 per employee per year, with volume discounts, says Coloma. If you're interested, download the 30-day free trial from the site.

Printer Friendly Version