Why pay for an office suite, in fact, why even install it on your computer? Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) has been getting some great press recently! SaaS is nothing more than a website that allows you to carry out activities normally done with desktop software – word processing, spreadsheets, email, and so on.

Why is this exciting? The only software that you need to install on your computer is your browser; the speed of applications is more related to your network connection than your PC hardware, making upgrades less important; the application is routinely updated for you (without even knowing it); your data is stored offsite and backed up automatically; and you can share your documents with others effortlessly.

Zoho is a free online office suite. Simply register at the website and create an account, then you can edit and access documents from anywhere. The word processor boasts ample fonts and formatting tools to make documents sparkle, and it can handle Microsoft Word documents sent from colleagues. The Zoho spreadsheet is equally adept, producing swish graphs for sales reports and presenting data cleanly. There is a selection of other tools for managing projects and hosting presentations. Zoho Creator is like Microsoft Access online.

Storing documents online is a great hedge against a sudden crash, and it also makes them accessible from any browser on any PC. Zoho Writer now sports a “Go Offline” button in its toolbar. Just click on it and you can continue editing your 25 most recent documents, regardless of whether you’re connected to the internet. When you do reconnect, Zoho offers to sync your offline file with the version it has stored on its servers.

But wait, there’s more! Facebook users also have access to Zoho’s word processing, spreadsheet and presentation applications – Writer, Sheet and Show – from within the Facebook interface; and iZoho provides iPhone-optimized access to Zoho’s online office applications.

Zoho goes further beyond the desktop domain with Zoho Meeting, an online service meant for sharing your desktop/conducting meetings online. After initiating an on-line conference via Zoho from your browser, you can invite others to join. Zoho lets you share your desktop with multiple people with ease, to co-edit a document with colleagues in different locations, or for product demonstration, customer support and the like.