Buzzword

Several companies have introduced web-based word processors, such as Google Docs. The newest program, Buzzword, was presented today at a meeting of Harvard's Flash User Group. Buzzword is the product of a Boston area startup company called Virtual Ubiquity; it runs in the Flash Player (version 9), whereas other web-based word processors are written in versions of HTML. Two of the founders of Virtual Ubiquity demonstrated Buzzword, and I was very impressed by the apparent ease of editing, formatting, inserting images and comments, and sharing a document with other users for collaborative projects. The design of the interface is clean, beautiful, and innovative -- for example, the familiar righthand scroll bar in a document window was segmented into clickable sections, based on the number of pages in the document. And, like other web-based applications, Buzzword makes your documents available from any web connection. No more emailing documents back and forth! Buzzword, which will be free of charge, will be available in a beta 1.0 version in the fall; until then, you can arrange a preview by emailing info@virtub.com.