Online office suite provider Zoho has launched a Zoho Facebook application.
Zoho for Facebook allows users to create documents, spreadsheets and presentations from within Facebook. Support includes the ability to view and edit all existing documents, spreadsheets and presentations (both personal and shared) from Zoho Writer, Sheet and Show.
Whilst Zoho on Facebook will expose Zoho to a broader audience, the new application has one large issue: a complete failure to integrate with the Facebook user/ login system; Zoho on Facebook still requires a Zoho account. That of course begs the question: if Facebook login is not supported, why would users switch from using Zoho directly to using Zoho on Facebook? Perhaps Zoho knows better and the application will be well received; providing choice to consumers is a positive even if the logic of providing that choice isn’t immediately clear.
Previous TechCrunch Zoho coverage here.
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this should be posted on the who gives a sh*t crunch site.
You have to register after you add the app? The whole point of Facebook was so that you don’t have to re-register with each site out there.
The lesson we should learn from this is that already mentioned startups on techcrunch continually get mentions no matter how insignificant, meaningless, or obvious the things they do are.
Everybody knows that Facebook users are too busy poking, writing on walls and MiniFeed stalking to actually do their term papers, so what good is being able to create documents, spreadsheets and presentations?
One thing that I am not able to understand is……how can zoho come out with so many different kinds of releases in a short span of time?
i.e. they came out with support for iphone, now facebook. and they also have been constantly updating their main application.
how many employees does this company have? not many i thought.
Andy
This is a blog about Web 2.0, what do you expect other than news from startups? Zoho is a significant player in the online office space…so even when I don’t particularly get the logic of the latest offering it’s still worth a run, and it is the first type of app like this on Facebook
Brent
I couldn’t agree more
They should resolve that login issue because I think that is the biggest drawback. You would think that shouldn’t be too hard a task to do.
Heeeey people …. the company which releases allthese ONLINE applications ( ZOHO etc. ) … is just a 100 yards from my house ( Velacherry , Chennai , Tamil Nadu , INDIA ) . The name of the company is ADVENTNET . It is a small JAVA based company [ At one time even I was trying 2 get in2 this company - and was preparing for interviews
) - But then I moved on to Microsoft based applications 
( So I had no work wth ADVENTNET ) …… It has rougly 100 employees ( many of my friends work there 
) ….. Itwas started a couple of years back by 2 students near place called Thambaram - ……. U kno wat ??? … now I hav separate application running called Strollby ( http://www.strollby.com ) … 
….
Is there any link between Zoho and TechCrunch?
Just wondering…
Yup sir !!
…. ZOHO has been a regular sponcer for Techcrunch some time before ….. but I even think if Mike has any stake holdings in ZOHO ….. wat ever …. I personnally think ZOHO ( Adventnet ) — is a real good product …..and as far as I see …. it is the biggest competitor for GOOGLE online office products (Not even Microsoft 
) …. as these products from Adventnet ( Zoho suite etc. ) are more superb to use and even has many features than GOOGLE products ….. and there has been really gud hard work in this company to hav com up soo big ..!!! 
why would users switch from using Zoho directly to using Zoho on Facebook?
Because ALL the cool kids are making their online apps into Facebook apps. You’re nobody unless you have a Facebook app. /sarcasm
Duncan, Brent:
By default, Facebook doesnt provide the user’s email address through the API for us to map it with a Zoho Account. I beleive only some vendors with business relationship with facebook have access to this information which we are trying to establish. Hopefully, we’ll have access to this information soon. Please note that this is the first version of the application and will improve significantly going forward.
Cpl M: 30% of our user base is students. So we made the application available on Facebook.
Thanks Kaviraj. 50% of user base is outside US. Thats the primary driver behind our recent focus on multi-language support etc. We plan to extend our reach further.
gr8 post, thnx alot!
Raju Vegesn is spot on (comment #12). The FaceBook API doesn’t expose data that could be tied back to existing Zoho account (like an email address). It does provide the FaceBook user id, which could then be stored by Zoho.
If they didn’t do this then people who already have a Zoho account wouldn’t be able to access it, instead they would have to start over. Instead of being a “a complete failure” this is actually a feature.
To those suggesting there is something untowards in me posting this, does my name look like Michael Arrington? I have zero relationship with Zoho and I wasn’t asked to write the post, in fact I don’t even think I have a Zoho account. As per my previous comment, Zoho is a leading player in the space, and this is a first for Facebook, that makes it news.
coool yaaar
.. relax ….
Well Red bull cam up with Red Bull Rosambull so we can expect more and more companies comming up with their applications on facebook.
Beyond www
SSO ( Single Sign On) would have been gr8 adv.
http://www.tekno-world.blogspot.com
zoho sucks…and techchrunch milk toast web 2.0 crap sucks…give us some meat you freakin vegan
webware is way better than this site.
The reason why Zoho requires sign-in is because Zoho has no way of mapping Facebook logins to Zoho logins. The Facebook API does not provide the user’s email address, which would be Zoho’s only opportunity to decipher who is who.
I’m actually suprised we haven’t seen more applications requiring 2 logins (one for facebook and one for their own site).
Raju, why do you need my e-mail address? I am not going to write to you, and I surely hope you won’t spam me either. Just use the user ID as unique identifier, and be done with it. Current users of Zoho should surely be able to link up their existing accounts, but if I don’t have one, don’t lock me out.
To help get an idea of the functionality of integrating Zoho with Facebook, I created a walk through of how to use the application.
http://scissormonkey.wordpress.....k-through/
@24 Brent - Keep in mind that Zoho isn’t just a productivity suite, it is also a collaboration tool. How are you to be notified when others have content they want you to collaborate on?
@Brent, We are working on a solution where we don’t ask for an email address. Stay tuned!
Sridhar
Get Going Sridhar,
lets do it
Vijay