If it has real, proper, version control with named checkpoints then I'll check it out. I still struggle to believe that Google Docs doesn't have the ability to create a named version alongside its version-for-every-change tracking.
This is extremely interesting and directly solves a major pain point for me. I've registered and I am going to give this a try once your Mac beta is out.
Curious why PPT first? I'd have thought a bigger issue was with Word docs. I guess that has its own track changes thing, but it's still not got anything approaching version control.
I imagine that one of their main target use cases is collaboratively editing slide decks, or something similar. I recall when our company had some major event last year, our exec team had over a hundred iterations of their slide deck.
edit:
Their blog [1] notes that the reason is to let them focus on executing one well-defined thing WELL. Seems like a good idea.
If we’re going to achieve these goals, we need to be
super focused. Which is why our first version is
specific in its scope: Kivo 1.0 is an Office plugin
which works with PowerPoint on Windows.
Kivo guys: what a great presentation, and clear explanation of what you feel is lacking in the space.
I figured there was a narrow focus at this point: it makes perfect sense. I was just wondering why that particular focus. Having thought on it some more, it looks like a clever strategy: the Word case has a half-solution already, with Track Changes and numbered file versions. In Powerpoint, there's simply no such thing.
Someone mentioned a project like this on HN several weeks ago. Someone other than me will get good karma for linking to it. (:
More importantly, it seemed like something that the Github team is very interested in as well. In the past, such as when they introduced showing maps and other data on Github, they have expressed interest in making Github a more universally useful tool.
That'll be a fancy MS Word-compatible editor with integrated diffing. The problem with using Git(hub) is that line delta change model - perfect for code - doesn't make much sense in the context of freeform English. I care about changes to words, sentences, and paragraphs. I need to see changes in-line, most of the time.
Draft (draft.io) has the right model, but I need a native app with local storage and, again, MS Word compatibility.
Note to Box, please make your file formats plain html or something exportable.
I think it will take a leap of faith for a company to start creating all their docs on Box, vs Google Docs which has been around longer. I would feel better if I saw them stored in such a way that I wasn't afraid I was stuck with you forever.
Maybe you can create the first modern, open docs file format for the web. Maybe that's just html.
IE not .gdoc (.bdoc)
That is all to say, I'm not sure you can win this war on features or usability (vs Apple and Google) but you might be able to win with security + openness.
They fail in their importXML limit to 50 queries
They fail in their limited feature sets that make it not a true Excel replacement
They fail in their inability to perfectly past data from Excel
I still use the Google spreadsheets all the time, but as a quick and dirty version of excel with importXML ability
19 comments
[ 3.3 ms ] story [ 48.4 ms ] threadCurious why PPT first? I'd have thought a bigger issue was with Word docs. I guess that has its own track changes thing, but it's still not got anything approaching version control.
edit: Their blog [1] notes that the reason is to let them focus on executing one well-defined thing WELL. Seems like a good idea.
Kivo guys: what a great presentation, and clear explanation of what you feel is lacking in the space.1: http://kivo.com/blog/
I wish the Kivo team every success.
More importantly, it seemed like something that the Github team is very interested in as well. In the past, such as when they introduced showing maps and other data on Github, they have expressed interest in making Github a more universally useful tool.
Draft (draft.io) has the right model, but I need a native app with local storage and, again, MS Word compatibility.
I think it will take a leap of faith for a company to start creating all their docs on Box, vs Google Docs which has been around longer. I would feel better if I saw them stored in such a way that I wasn't afraid I was stuck with you forever.
Maybe you can create the first modern, open docs file format for the web. Maybe that's just html.
IE not .gdoc (.bdoc)
That is all to say, I'm not sure you can win this war on features or usability (vs Apple and Google) but you might be able to win with security + openness.
Potential (though unlikely) legal trouble and brand confusion.
(I work on spreadsheets and find this very interesting.)
I still use the Google spreadsheets all the time, but as a quick and dirty version of excel with importXML ability