Google Docs Rock!
I love Google Docs.
This morning, I'm getting ready for work. I have a little laptop nearby, and I was checking emails, and there was notification in my Gmail that a shared spreadsheet had been altered by one of its owners.
Clicking the email open, I learned what values on the spreadsheet had been changed. So I got double, no, triple... wait, quadruple! notification: the sheet had been adjusted; I knew who did it; what was done, and I knew what time it was done. Wow.
I've been using Google Docs for a long time, and if this is an application you haven't discovered, I can only tell you to give it a try.
Google Docs supplies the full functionality of Word Processing, Spreadsheets, and presentation software (like PowerPoint), all free, and all fully web-enabled, meaning, you can share them with others for viewing or editing. This last is of course the feature of Google Docs which makes them most powerful.
The people with whom you share a Google Doc don't need any software to open, view, and edit your document. There are no "version" issues (whenever Microsoft, for example, issues a new version of PointPoint or Word, and a user saves a document using a new version, there are potential conflicts when another user tries to open (and edit) that same document using an older version of the program in question). There are no problems with version control (this is another use of the word "version," referring to the problem of two people opening and editing a document at the same time, usually not knowing someone else is editing it. Microsoft and other program makers try to overcome this by locking a document when it's open for editing by Person A, but Person B can just open a copy and go right ahead and edit!). Google Docs handles version control by first being web-based, meaning, editing can go on simultaneously by two or more people because it's all real time. I don't save the document to a drive, it's stored online - so if I change a word, that word is changed right then and there.
In addition Google Docs tells me that someone else is online with that document open, making changes to it. In fact, it will even notify me who it is, and what cell of a spread sheet they're making a change to.
Another great feature of Google Docs is that any improvement to the software is immediate and requires nothing from me to take advantage of it - no costly upgrades, no installation of anything. It's just there.
Some people worry about the security of a document on Google Docs. While it is true that your document is stored "in the cloud," (that is, on Google's servers) rather than on your hard drive, there is a remedy for that, too. You can download your document and delete it from cyberspace. Now whether the Evil Empire has kept a copy and will use it against you some day, I can't say. I do know that I have been using this service for years now, and I have not yet had a negative experience as a result.
The one thing you need to do to use Google Docs is open a Google Account. And that's about it. To open a Google Account, just search for iGoogle or Google Accounts, and you will be walked through the steps necessary to get started. Once you have a Google Account open, you can opt to get Gmail, or start a blog with Blogger, shop using Froogle, or do an amazing number of things using the many online applications Google offers.
This morning, I'm getting ready for work. I have a little laptop nearby, and I was checking emails, and there was notification in my Gmail that a shared spreadsheet had been altered by one of its owners.
Clicking the email open, I learned what values on the spreadsheet had been changed. So I got double, no, triple... wait, quadruple! notification: the sheet had been adjusted; I knew who did it; what was done, and I knew what time it was done. Wow.
I've been using Google Docs for a long time, and if this is an application you haven't discovered, I can only tell you to give it a try.
Google Docs supplies the full functionality of Word Processing, Spreadsheets, and presentation software (like PowerPoint), all free, and all fully web-enabled, meaning, you can share them with others for viewing or editing. This last is of course the feature of Google Docs which makes them most powerful.
The people with whom you share a Google Doc don't need any software to open, view, and edit your document. There are no "version" issues (whenever Microsoft, for example, issues a new version of PointPoint or Word, and a user saves a document using a new version, there are potential conflicts when another user tries to open (and edit) that same document using an older version of the program in question). There are no problems with version control (this is another use of the word "version," referring to the problem of two people opening and editing a document at the same time, usually not knowing someone else is editing it. Microsoft and other program makers try to overcome this by locking a document when it's open for editing by Person A, but Person B can just open a copy and go right ahead and edit!). Google Docs handles version control by first being web-based, meaning, editing can go on simultaneously by two or more people because it's all real time. I don't save the document to a drive, it's stored online - so if I change a word, that word is changed right then and there.
In addition Google Docs tells me that someone else is online with that document open, making changes to it. In fact, it will even notify me who it is, and what cell of a spread sheet they're making a change to.
Another great feature of Google Docs is that any improvement to the software is immediate and requires nothing from me to take advantage of it - no costly upgrades, no installation of anything. It's just there.
Some people worry about the security of a document on Google Docs. While it is true that your document is stored "in the cloud," (that is, on Google's servers) rather than on your hard drive, there is a remedy for that, too. You can download your document and delete it from cyberspace. Now whether the Evil Empire has kept a copy and will use it against you some day, I can't say. I do know that I have been using this service for years now, and I have not yet had a negative experience as a result.
The one thing you need to do to use Google Docs is open a Google Account. And that's about it. To open a Google Account, just search for iGoogle or Google Accounts, and you will be walked through the steps necessary to get started. Once you have a Google Account open, you can opt to get Gmail, or start a blog with Blogger, shop using Froogle, or do an amazing number of things using the many online applications Google offers.
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