30 Years After VisiCalc, Socialtext Unveils SocialCalc & Freemium Pricing

23
Jun

30 Years After VisiCalc, Socialtext Unveils SocialCalc & Freemium Pricing

author: editor category: ReadWriteWeb

Disclosure: Socialtext is a ReadWriteWeb sponsor.

On the 30th anniversary of the original killer business application, enteprise platform Socialtext has brought wiki spreadsheet app SocialCalc in to the light of day.

Created in collaboration with VisiCalc co-creator Dan Bricklin, the long-awaited app is the social enterprise successor to the Bricklin’s original innovation. Begun in 2006 and now in public beta, its a more fully-functional version of his concept of WikiCalc.

Along with the public beta of SocialCalc, the company has transformed its offering in to a freemium price plan dubbed “Socialtext Free 50.” Socialtext is just one of a wave providers moving to a freemium model this year thus far, and the move by yet another leader in the enterprise 2.0 space would suggest the trend will only continue.

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Social Spreadsheets?

Even with the genius of Bricklin at your side, why continue spend years developing collaborative spreadsheets when easy-as-pie alternatives like Google Apps exist already are available to the enterprise?

SocialCalc is more than just an online spreadsheet that a group can edit. It truly incorporates the design principles of wiki in to a spreadsheet for distributed teams; dynamic editing, wiki-style linking, and an easily accessible version history are all there.

SocialCalc also can smoothly integrate Socialtext “workspace” wiki pages in to spreadsheets and individual cells (and vice-versa), creating easy portability of data between the different knowledge mediums within the platform.

Socialtext is Now Free for 50 Users

The more unexpected of the two announcements from Socialtext is the switch to a freemium strategy.

The new plan aims to draw in smaller, departmental teams and pilot projects by starting at a completely free option for 50 users.

Free 50 gets you a hosted platform with personal dashboards, Socialtext People (the social network), one wiki workspace, and the microblogging system Socialtext Signals, including the Adobe AIR desktop app. There is no support or services, and SocialCalc is not included, though there is a separate demo to try.

The next step from Free 50 is $6 per user/per month, which adds support/services, unlimited wikis, and SocialCalc. A $1,000 per month plus a per-user charge is the only route for an on-site appliance and full customization.

All hosted options are accessed via shared company email addresses, and Socialtext is stressing that Free 50 is “IT friendly” in that it allows full control of the platform whether you pay or not. Considering the administrative strangehold that so many freemium apps place on free users, it’s a smart move if you’re looking to have appeal as a pilot program for large enterprise.

What the New Plan Portends

The why behind Socialtext moving to freemium is likely to be the same as others who’ve remade themselves in a similar fashion.

The company was previously at the higher end of the enterprise 2.0 market in terms of price. But with the economy still limping along, there are fewer than ever willing to sign on dotted line for software that proposes a new, collaborative modus operandi.

We asked CEO Ross Mayfield whether he honestly thinks enough Free 50 users can be converted to paying customers, and though he hesitated to make any forecasts, he expressed confidence that the features offered in the paid plans were enough to attract more than a few.

Discuss