Gliffy is a next-generation collaborative rich internet application for drawing FlowCharts, UML, Network diagrams etc., has just started its public beta. Gliffy is purely a web based application, which runs in your web browser, so there is no need to download any additional software to use it.
By leveraging new web technologies, Flash (OpenLaszlo), Gliffy brings you a familiar desktop application feel in a web browser. Features such as copy,paste and undo are all a part of this advanced web application. And because Gliffy is a web application, you and your IT staff no longer have to worry about keeping your software up to date. Each time you use Gliffy, you get the most recent version of the software automatically.
You can also save your diagrams to Gliffy, export them as a jpeg or SVG file or instantly publish to your blog, wiki or webpage. And since all of your Gliffy documents are stored securely on their servers, there is no need to worry about backing up Gliffy documents, saving you time and hassle. Gliffy maintains a copy each time a document is saved, so you will never run the risk of losing any changes. Gliffy maintains a revision history, allowing you to return to previous versions of your work.
In addition, Gliffy has two ways to make document sharing simple. Collaboration enables others to see and edit your work by simply entering their email address. Publishing creates a read-only image of your diagram that you can easily embed in a wiki, blog, or other type of web software.
Pricing for Gliffy will soon be announced. Gliffy plan to offer two versions:
- Free, ad supported Gliffy with limited feature set
- Subscription version of Gliffy with premium features for the business user
In light of Google’s Web Office aspirations, I don’t expect Gliffy to remain an independent company for too long but then again I always thought Microsoft would by Mindjet and WebEx but they never did!?