I’m writing a book and my editor needs to be able to alter/comment on the document as we go. I’m afraid AI is gonna use my work so I wanna move away from Google.
I’m writing a book and my editor needs to be able to alter/comment on the document as we go. I’m afraid AI is gonna use my work so I wanna move away from Google.
https://etherpad.org/ lets you set up your own instance or sign up to free existing instances for online document collaboration. It seems very on par with Google Docs.
https://www.collaboraonline.com/collabora-online/ has wide document format compatibility and is most comparable to M$ 360, but you need to sign up for a free demo and I don’t know how long that lasts or what it costs afterwards.
https://cryptpad.fr/ This is the one I’ve personally used the most without ever creating an account. It uses OnlyOffice, is e2ee, easy to create and share. Without an account, your document is deleted after 90 days. With a free account, you get 1GB of storage and the ability to share folders and collaborate with other users.
The safest option is always just work in the offline editor of your choice and send it back and forth securely with edits or comments. Keep each revision saved separately so you can go back if needed.
Good luck with your book!
FYI, OnlyOffice is entirely Russian-owned, through a holding company in Singapore and a subsidiary in Latvia. I don’t know if money you give CryptPad ends up in Russian hands, but OnlyOffice put a lot of effort into obscuring this.
The OnlyOffice software itself is Open Source. So unless you’re using their online hosting options as well, it’s irrelevant. Murena, for example, uses OnlyOffice as their “Google Office” equivalent, but they have it self hosted on their own servers (German I believe). Does Murena pay them for a hosting license as per their business pricing document? Sure…probably. But that doesn’t mean that your data with Murena is going to Russia or anything like that.
I’m not saying you’re wrong. I’m just saying a distinction has to be made between the OnlyOffice hosting services and the OnlyOffice actual software