TextFlow: a different approach to collaboration for text documents

At this point, you probably used (or have tried) online word processors like Zoho, Google Docs or ThinkFree to collaborate on a document. The concept is simple: everyone points to the same doccument and make the changes from their browsers.

A Sweedish company called Nordic River is offering a different approach to online collaboration on texts. With TextFlow, all your colleagues work separately "offline" on their usual word processor (MS Word or Open Office), and after you get all files through e-mail you drag-and-drop them to TextFlow to compare versions and make decisions on the editing.

The interface is very sleek and I see value in being able to compare different docs this way. However, it sounds to me that it is much easier to go with the approach taken by the companies I mentioned at the top. Perhaps I'm missing something here.

TextFlow can be used through any browser or the installable Adobe Air version. It is free, unless you want to pay US$ 99,00 per year to use the Professional edition and get rid of the "not for commercial use" watermark automatically added to all documents.

Try TextFlow here.

;