14 DAY TRIAL // With Drive, Google now has a standard cloud storage option to compete with the likes of Dropbox, Microsoft, and many others. But Drive's main selling point continues to be the Docs suite of office tools.
While they're not the only web-based office editors out there, Google's tools remain the best.
But the competition is about to get stiffer, as Box has announced that it's stepping up its game for business customers with the launch of Notes, a hybrid between Docs and Evernote.
"Our belief is that existing word processors have overshot the market, building ever more complex features, many of them still related to printing documents. At the opposite end of the spectrum, social communication and messaging applications have enabled new forms of continuous productivity not previously seen in the workplace," Box explained the need for a new tool.
Box Notes, as the new tool is called, is in private beta for now, and you can leave your email address with Box if you want to get in early. The public release is coming in 2014.
Notes makes it possible to work on documents, presentations, or just flesh out a project as a team. There's real time collaboration and anyone can contribute not only their ideas, but also links, videos, and so on.
"We'll continue to improve the editor, making it possible to create a wider variety of documents. Accessing notes from anywhere and any device is crucial, so expect to see a mobile version of Box Notes too. And we'll continue to build features that are only possible in an online, collaborative editor," Box promises.
The tool is nothing new particularly, but it's safe to say that there's still plenty of room for improvement and innovation in the online document collaboration market, since no one has managed to get a good balance between usability, features, and speed just yet.
