AppJet’s EtherPad, the real-time Google Docs-like wiki tool we wrote about last fall, has been upgraded to be prettier, more user-friendly and far more collaborative than before. EtherPad was the brainchild of former Googlers (who founded online programming tool and Y Combinator funded AppJet) who wanted a real-time, yet group oriented way to collaborate on notes and documents. Thus, EtherPad was born. We have 100 free beta invites to the premium version of EtherPad here.
When we first reviewed EtherPad, we found the web-based rival to Google Docs to be sore on the eyes but incredibly useful. What made EtherPad unique from the start was the ability to have multiple people making edits and writing in a document in real-time. You simply create a document, send the link around, and anyone can join. Each user’s edits are highlighted in a different color (with a key featured on the side with which color belongs to each user). Changes are made in absolute real time, something even Google hasn’t been able to do (Google docs update every fifteen seconds). Users can also chat in the sidebar and save versions of documents forever.
Now, EtherPad has launched a new, redesigned version with more tools and functionality that may just give Google Docs a run for its money. First, EtherPad completely redesigned the entire UI to look softer and simpler. The interface is much less stark and easier on the eyes. EtherPad also lets you import and export Word, PDF, Plain Text and HTML documents. Appjet made writing a document in EtherPad more like writing out notes in Word or Google Docs, adding rich text formatting, including bold, underline, italics and strikethrough commands to the wiki. And organization of notes within a document became a little better with the ability to add bullet points.
Additionally, EtherPad now has a monetization strategy. You can use the service for free, but you cannot make your documents secure via a password. The EtherPad Professional Edition is securely hosted in the cloud, free for up to 3 users; $8 per user per month above 3 users. The Private Network Edition for Enterprises is $99 per seat as a one-time fee for life, but your documents will be kept behind a firewall.
AppJet’s co-founder Aaron Iba says that 300,000 synchronous pads have been created on EtherPad and it is being used by a vast variety of companies and organizations. For example, students at Stanford Law School use EtherPad to collaborate on note-taking during class. And tech companies are using the product to interview engineers remotely while still being able to test the ability to write code for an application at the same time.
AppJet recently closed an angel round of funding of about $250,000 led by Mitch Kapor, who was joined by Chris Yeh, and others. The startup has also received seed funding from Y Combinator and the FriendFeed founders.
After seeing a demo of the new and improved EtherPad, it seems clear that the fledgling product has the potential to rival Google Docs and other popular collaborative wikis on a pure feature basis. EtherPad is planning to add several more features to the mix in the near future including spell check, the ability to import images and video conferencing.
This is very similar to what Google Wave is. I bet the Wave crashes all over EtherPad. sorry, had to do it.
This is nothing like Google wave, this is a collaborative editor.
Thats like comparing my home movies to Star Wars
like google wave, this is a collaboration tool. depends on how you view and use it, both are the same.
etherpad founders are ex-googlers? sounds fishy
From what I can gather – Google wave was developed in Secret in the Sydney office – and not many even within Google knew that it was being done.
I guess in your metaphor Google Wave is like Star Wars and EtherPad is your home movies?
There is no similarity when you’re in the middle of a major trend… http://www.corv....com/blog/?p=88
One big difference: I can use Etherpad right now.
(There’s plenty of other differences, but that’s the biggest for me)
You should check this co-operative editor. beWeeVee is also a nice alternative. Check it out http://www.beweevee.com
This is a pretty nice site. Looks good and has a chat window. Google docs needs a chat thing.
The only problem with EtherPad is you can’t use the free model for anything important.
You can chat on the right side of Google docs. Just click the down arrow where it indicates who is viewing the doc.
@ Eric
Spot on. Was going to post the same thing. When I started reading it I was thinking geez this is Google Wave,
Now the question is did these ex-Googlers leave to start a similar service ahead of the Google Wave curve hoping Yahoo, or MSFT would buy them? HMMMMM!
Please have AppJet’s founders collaborate and share the legal letter that will be forthcoming from Google.
The company was founded in 2007, so I doubt they will have any problems. And the product was released long before Wave anyway. And the concept of “word on web” was nothing new when Google docs came either…
I’m very interested. Signing up. Thanks.
WTF is up with comparing this to Google Wave? Y’all must be high or somethin.
I think that Google Wave ha this solution!
I think Google Wave will smash many collaboration web-based applications!
Yep, the biggest threat to Google Docs is… Google Wave.
Despite all the hype, real time document collaboration (i.e., editing a document at the exact same moment by multiple users) is just a fringe feature that most users don’t consume or consume ultra-rarely in the real working world. It’s like the 1000’s of features of Office that are there that you rarely/never use. Nice to know they’re there when you do need them, but I wouldn’t build a whole business around it (or as a customer, go out of my way to pay for).
I was looking for such a tool since a very long time. Google docs sucks big time.
Please send me an invite. Thanks in advance.
EtherPad seems like a great real-time collaborative tool. I wish I could have had something like this when I was doing my coding homework in college.
It still looks like it’s too early to really get a grasp of the features, because I’m assuming that most of them are still to come. But the implementation is pretty nice so far.
I’ve been looking for an alternative to Google Docs, but the collaborative aspect isn’t my biggest concern. I’d just like to see a better implementation for a cloud-based document repository.
Google Docs folder system can be a bit tedious, and EtherPad still doesn’t have a way to organize your documents (or “pads”) yet.
This is a very powerful tool for online collaboration. We use it all of the time for our weekly conference calls. Having all of the participants in a conference call see a “dynamic” agenda with notes updated by everyone as people speak, dramatically improves the effectiveness of the call.
In this age of “virtual” companies where people and resources are spread all over the world, this type of tool improves the effectiveness of existing communication tools (like Skype).
I’ve been using them for a while, and it is, by far, one of the best products on the web. It’s replaced wikis, online docs, bug tracking, and IM for most of the startups I’ve recommended it to.
Once I started using Etherpad, I couldn’t imagine going back to any other solution for collaboration, real-time or not.
Sold a product called Instant Update that did this 17 years ago. Noone had an Internet then of course so it was LAN only.
Sold a product called Instant Update that did this 17 years ago. Noone had an Internet then of course so it was LAN only.
do you want an award or something?
just used it using the beta invite, testing with two accounts. works to perfection. could be tremendously useful at meetings. thanks for the heads up on this.
This is a bunch of hype.
Just got my invite! This looks pretty cool. I like how you can easily install the software on your own servers. That offers a plus to both Google Docs and ultimately Google Wave too.
But… I am afraid that Google Wave will defeat it.
Wow, this likes cool! I snagged an invite, and I can’t wait to play around with Etherpad and write a review for Useful Tools.
So how many collaborative simplistic Notepad-like text editors are going to be created before everyone gets tired of them?
Sounds good
Though I think that having the world as a market place, there is always going to be space for many competitors within the same arena, I do think that Wave could perform better.
Why? Simply because Wave will integrate with most tools that we are currently using, Docs, Email, Calendar, etc, all in one interface.
sounds good from http://www.SocialLifeWorld.com
Google Docs is very slow, especially when you have it open for a long time working on a document. Hope this is fast as claimed. Signed up to check it out.
Who needs this?
Look at the unique visitors graph… 5k.. Come on