August 2, 2006 4:38 PM PDT

The Web-based drawing tool, LithaPaint

by Rafe Needleman
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Is there anything you cannot do in a Web-based application? We have word processors, spreadsheets, and presentation programs running on the Web. There are drawing applications and even video editors. And now there's the beginning of a free-form graphics creation tool, LithaPaint.

Don't throw out your Photoshop license yet. The service is still in early alpha testing, a lot of it doesn't work, and most of the LithaPaint tools help you draw and manipulate lines, which is not enough; a more complete tool would also manipulate textures and areas. But it's interesting to experiment with, if only to see how much can be done inside a browser window.

There's one thing that we have yet to solve, though, with all of these applications: data interoperability. Currently, you cannot copy and paste between Web-based applications like you can with desktop apps. You can export documents from, and import to, most of the apps, but that's a kludge that takes us back to the early days of personal computing.

Originally posted at ComingSoon
Rafe Needleman writes about start-ups, new technologies, and Web 2.0 products, as editor of CNET's Webware. E-mail Rafe.
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