Week 8 - Thing 18

Warning * Warning * Long Post * Warning * Warning (ok so most others were long too!)

Open source programs are programs that are free and people can add and modify the source code to their liking for the benefit of others.

There used to be a time when such programs were like "eh, nice but I'll stick to the real programs!"

Open source software has come a long way and Zoho writer is an excellent example as to what collaborative effort can accomplish. Zoho writer is a free, browser based text editor with many of the capabilities of Microsoft Word.

As a math teacher I've grappled with different ways to have my students submit questions to me online in either a blog, a forum or even in an online blackboard/classroom setting. The biggest problem being that students have a hard time posing the question mathematically correct and, more importantly, readable.

So the student might want help with solving equations for a certain variable. Now how is s/he going to ask this question if s/he can't even type it without going through some serious extended learning?

Word has a rudimentary add on called "MS Equation Editor" however it is a pain in the butt to learn and operate, let alone teach. Furthermore, it comes standard on the Windows version but not on the Mac version. Still, it is fancy enough for me to easily write a test or a quiz and it looks good. I've always looked for ways to make this available to my students so they could submit questions either through emails, blogs etc but also so they could use it on vocab projects and the like. My search is over!

The Zoho writer has an easy to use equation editor anyone can use with very limited training. Take a look at this example



Took me like 2 seconds to write. What this editor does is actually create an image on the fly. But unlike the MS word equation editor, it actually shows you the LaTex code.

Now you may ask what is LaTex. This is the code that allows you to type a regular string of characters and it changes to what you see in the image. For instance, for the above image, I would have to type \frac{ \sqrt{2x+4}-23}{4x+2}=14 in a LaTex editor to do that.

I can see you ask now, so how is this helpful? Well, I like online quiz programs such as can be found at Quia.com to get my students extra help before test time. The problem was always to create readable math quizzes took a lot of extra effort because all the questions needed to be hand entered using LaTex in the scripted format above. Now, with this Zoho, I can just copy and paste it and my quizzes should take a 10th of the time to do them.

Now, Zoho has other applications such as a spread sheet, a presentation program, a calendar, a planner and, now also a database program. All for free.

I've looked at the modules and I am impressed with the depth of the program. The question then is, is it as good as Microsoft Word? It depends entirely what your skill is and what your needs are. If you use Word as a glorified typewriter and create basic documents with general graphichs, fonts, perhaps some publishing then absolutely yes. If you're a medium user and use Word to integrate with other modular software from MS then maybe but if you're a heavy user and I don't consider myself one at all then probably not. This would mean if you're an integrator/designer/software engineer etc.

So is there a disadvantage to this program? What happens if the power goes off? I actually managed to crash my internet in the middle of writing this entry and thought "OK this is a reason I might not use it!" but to my surprise and delight, it actually saved it by itself and when I reopened the program my untitled document was there completely intact! Wow, even the mac version of Word doesn't have that. (After all Macs don't Crash right? LMAO, ya right!)

Long story short, give it a try. You might like it!