stronglist.com

What is Gliffy?
Think of it as a light online version of Visio.

So you can create things like flowcharts, diagrams, wire frames?
Yup you can do all those, dont forget my favorite: floor plans.

The site design looks a bit rough
Yeah the homepage definitely leaves a bad first impression. But if you look past that design and launch the app you will be impressed.

Whats it like actually using the app?
Its a smoother experience than I expected. Interacting with the items is very easy. You can quickly move, rotate and scale objects. Its a very good use of Flash. It felt like a desktop application. I particularly like the image search. You can use this built in tool to search Yahoo for images, then you can drag and drop these images right into your workspace.

Would you use Gliffy over Visio?
Yes, in some cases I definitely would. In academic settings Gliffy really shines. You can use it to collaborate and its FREE to use.
I dont see it being adopted in a work setting. Its the usual problem, companies don’t trust their confidential documents to 3rd party servers especially those of a startup.

Did you say its free to use?
Yup totally free, no ads either.

So whats the business plan?
It looks like they charge for plugins. More info here

Any closing comments?
Gliffy is to Visio what Writely is to Word. If you’re into diagramming, give Gliffy a free try, dont let the hompage put you off.
[To Gliffy team- why dont you guys give your pages a makeover, it will make a world of difference, your app is great but the homepage is dragging it down]