30 years later and our word processing software hasn’t changed, not even to adapt to mobile. That changes tonight with the launch of Quip, a new word processing app from former Facebook CTO Bret Taylor’s new startup. Quip works on desktop but is designed for mobile. It automatically formats documents to the size of your screen, offers in-app collaboration and messaging, and even works offline.
“Quip is a modern word processor optimized for the era of tablets and phones”, Taylor tells me.” We’re in the middle of a transition away from the desktop computer. The shift is so seismic that it trumps the importance of all the legacy word processing features and “gives us an opportunity to change this software”, Taylor says.
So what makes Quip different? First it adapts documents to whatever size or shape screen you’re working on. If you’re on an iPhone an embedded photo might appear full width, but on an iPad it would appear on the right surrounded by text.
The collaboration tools might be the most exciting part. You can share any document with another user, and when they first open it you’ll get a notification. Taylor says this lets you jump in and walk them through the doc using Quip’s internal messaging system. All your collaborative edits and messages are turned into a chat-like thread you can follow. “It feels like sitting at a desk with someone around a piece of paper” Taylor tells me.
From the Quip “desktop” home page of the app you can see all your current documents and check your inbox for new updates and messages. If your connection drops while you’re writing, no sweat. Quip will synchronize your documents back to the cloud when you get your connection back. Taylor says he loves how seamless this works while he commutes on San Francisco’s BART subway which has spotty mobile reception.
Quip is free for personal use and $12 a month per user for business. It’s available now for iPhone, iPad, and desktop, and Taylor says an Android app is in the works.
Source: TechCrunch http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/3YObeM8FgUE/
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