* Ajax 13 includes a word processor and video editor
Most products that have any kind of browser dependency are compatible with Internet Explorer rather than Mozilla Firefox. This is not, however, the case with a collection of AJAX-based applications from Ajax 13.
The company’s ajaxWrite, a 400KB (you guessed it) AJAX-based Web application, is a polished word processor similar to Microsoft Word and as the publisher prominently notes in the default document loaded on launch: “Microsoft Office Professional 2007 – $499 / ajaxWrite – $0.”
So can ajaxWrite replace Word? Well, sort of. It can read and write files in Microsoft Word, Microsoft Works, Word Perfect, OpenOffice, and StarOffice formats and supports multiple open documents (accessed via tabs), fonts, text decoration, indenting, tabs, links, numbered and bulleted lists, highlighting, text alignment, tables … all of the basics are there.
Currently missing features include anything sophisticated to do with tables (cell merge, cell backgrounds, border styles and widths, etc.) and indexing and referencing features.
The only bug I could find was that insert horizontal rule doesn’t. Other than that the issues are minor; in its current 0.9 version ajaxWrite has a few user interface oddities such as removing the focus from the current document when you change the font of a selected block of text, only allowing a single document to be opened via the open file dialog (but once a document is loaded ajaxWrite leaves the dialog box open), and if you relaunch ajaxWrite your existing open documents will unceremoniously vanish.
AjaxWrite is good but not quite up to the level of sophistication of Google’s Writely which I discussed in a previous newsletter). That said, it loads faster, has a simpler user interface, and edits local documents only so nothing is stored on the server.
AjaxWrite is also part of a suite of applications published by ajaxLaunch, which includes ajaxSketch, eyespot, ajaxXLS, ajaxTunes and ajaxOS.
AjaxSketch is a simple drawing tool that is really far too simple to be useful yet but demonstrates the basics convincingly enough that you can see what the application could become. Rather more sophisticated but still in its early development stages is ajaxXLS, a spreadsheet viewer that attempts to emulate Excel.
Eyespot would appear to be where Ajax 13 has put most of its efforts. Eyespot is a very cool video editor that allows you to upload video clips, use other public video clips, and create your own video content by cutting and merging clips. Very impressive and with a focus on remixing there’s a definite goal of appealing to the teen and young adult market.
AjaxTunes is an interesting idea again aimed at the teen and young adult market (the iPod generation): A Web-based music player that will play music from either your “locker” (an online music file repository) or from music hosted on your own Web server.
The ajaxTunes site is rather oddly put together as it suggests that you sign up for a free locker but doesn’t give you an easy way to get to the sign-up page. To find it you have to launch the ajaxTunes player and then right click on the “Get a Free Locker” link. You need to have the link open in a new window otherwise it creates a new tab in the player window which has no resize controls and so the form is mostly obscured (just go here to save yourself some aggravation).
AjaxOS is described by the company as “an operating system that has been customized to be fully AJAX “aware.” By seamlessly integrating the power of Web-based applications with Linspire, ajaxOS recognizes any compatible file (doc, svg, odf, txt, xls, etc…) and launches the most up-to-date AJAX software from a Firefox browser. As the system is yet to be available there’s not a lot to write about, but the concept is interesting.
So what Ajax 13 has created is a collection of applications some of which are very clever and all with some very interesting attributes and lots of potential. An Office-killer or even a simple competitor? Nope. A platform for innovation? Quite possibly. Eyespot is the jewel and if Ajax 13 can develop mindshare there’s quite possibly a real contender in the online video editing market.
