Zoho Goes Offline (in a good way)

Online office suite Zoho will launch offline functionality for Zoho Writer this morning, and other applications in their suite will follow shortly.

The offline functionality was built on Google Gears, an open source project launched by Google in May 2007. Users will need to install a browser plugin to take advantage of the functionality. After that, an option will appear in the navigation bar to “Go Offline.” The feature works with Internet Explorer v.6 and higher, and with Firefox (including Mac) v1.5 and higher.

For now they are offering read-only functionality offline. Read-write functionality will appear in 3-4 weeks, the company says. Zoho will also begin to roll out offline functionality for their spreadsheet, presentation and other applications in the coming weaks.

Zoho, which competes head-on with Google Docs & Spreadsheets, managed to launch offline functionality on their product before Google did. The fact that they are using Google software to do this makes the story somewhat ironic.

An overview video of the feature is below.

Ooma Goes On Sale A Month Early

New VOIP startup Ooma, which is proving a free phone service to U.S. residents who purchase the basic hardware, started taking pre-orders about five minutes ago (6 AM PST). Orders are being taken by phone only, with delivery guaranteed before September 10. The phone number to call is 866-452-6662.

The basic unit, called a “hub,” is $399. Additional “scouts” which you can plug into the various phone jacks in our house cost $40 each. Sales tax is being collected on top of that for California deliveries. Once you’ve purchased the hardware, all calls to U.S. numbers are free. International calls are at Skype-like prices.

I don’t expect to see millions of people calling to buy an Ooma today. But for the early adopter crowd, this may be something they want to try out. I’ve been testing it for a few weeks and the call quality is good.