We will be conducting a 30 day trial of Central Desktop, a web application that, according to the website, allows users to:
“Create online workspaces to share files and documents, manage task lists and engage in group discussions.”
While we normally would never review the sign-up process itself for a product, this one had certain unusual characteristics that warranted a mini-review of its own. The complete review of Central Desktop will be posted in less than a month.
The first thing that one will notice when they sign up for the free trial of Central Desktop is their confidence. Unlike so many applications that offer free trials, this one DOES NOT start charging your credit card if you don’t cancel before the trial ends. They do request a credit card number, but it is simply to verify that people do not take advantage by registering multiple free trials. The card is never charged unless the user specifically upgrades to a paid account.
If the trial runs its course with no action by the user, it simply cancels without charging the credit card.
The company itself has demonstrated stability by receiving $7 million in funding in April, 2008. In this world where simplicity is the key to achieving funding, Central Desktop seems to excel initially. During setup, there were templates already created organized by the plans for use. For the purposes of our upcoming review, we selected all of the options.
From there, it gives the standard video introductory walk-thru that should be mandatory with anything tougher to use than Notepad. While we suggest watching this video, it was important to see how easy it was to learn how to use Central Desktop without the tutorial, so we will play around for a couple of days before watching.
This technique will fit many users naturally - the ones who skip past the instructions and play it by ear until they get stuck a couple of days later and decide to watch the video.
Stay tuned for more on Central Desktop. If you don’t want to wait, simply click here to take it for a test drive yourself. No risk, of course.
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