I have tried Google Spreadsheets last september (I think it may have been beta - there were no other docs). It is not too bad for simple stuff e.g sharing simple costing sheets. From memory it can be very confusing if multiple users are making changes - it is not clear what the file name/rev changes to and there was some confusion as to whether the SS was actually lost. i think the issue was that a new file revision needs to be saved and shared.
I haven't explored more complicated Excel operations (I don't need to much). The UI is certainly not as friendly as Excel. I use a lot of keyboard shortcuts and also the right click functions on formatting/setting cell series and these are not available. Having said that , they are not available in Open Office either. I would give it a tickle in any spare half hour you may have but ultimately I am not sure it will suit every business.
Well, I'm currently in the process of writing my MSc dissertation. Since I started it, I've done it wholly within Google docs. It's ideal for how I work - across many computers in many locations and many platforms.
Common strengths: * Availible anywhere. Even when you didn't know you needed it somewhere else (what was Mary's phone number again? Oh, I have that spreadsheet...) * Collaborative. You can be in a document and on the phone, and communicate very effectively (or just use the chat features). * Basically functional. No complex features, but it has everything you need for most basic documents.
Missing in Spreadsheets: * Most of what makes Excel useful. Things like dragging a row of numbers to copy, or dragging a different way to move cells.
Missing in Docs: * Anything formatting or pretty. This is really more of a html editor than a document editor. * Advanced features.
Overall feelings: I use this occasionally for basic information storage and collaboration. I don't use it for anything I need to really use (haven't printed out a Doc or run high-level calculations in a Spreadsheet). This won't change until/unless they add quite a few features.
I guess what I was curious about was how this might affect the way I use my PDA - whether I use the native word processor and spreadsheet, or boot up the browser. guess I'll be sticking with the on-board applications for a while yet.
I've been trying to get my son to use this (since he seems to have lost his MS Office disk), but I haven't gotten around to using it myself. I think Internet storage is very interesting - I had a pipe dream for a web-based word processor like this (following the Sealy precepts of user interfaces, which are rather different from what most word processors seem to have implemented) (e.g., what's all this bullshit about "Saving" files - the computer should bloody well remember everything you've typed).
Google Docs immediately made me imagine some medical diagnosis application. Input symptoms, get an instant diagnosis and 250,000 links to cheap online meds!!!
(a bit off topic) What I've found really useful is Google's Picasa tool. It finds new pictures when you bring them over from your camera, organizes them nicely, has a good user interface, and has some useful basic editing tools. It also has an easy method of sharing pictures online - either publicly or privately.
10 comments:
I have tried Google Spreadsheets last september (I think it may have been beta - there were no other docs).
It is not too bad for simple stuff e.g sharing simple costing sheets. From memory it can be very confusing if multiple users are making changes - it is not clear what the file name/rev changes to and there was some confusion as to whether the SS was actually lost. i think the issue was that a new file revision needs to be saved and shared.
I haven't explored more complicated Excel operations (I don't need to much). The UI is certainly not as friendly as Excel. I use a lot of keyboard shortcuts and also the right click functions on formatting/setting cell series and these are not available. Having said that , they are not available in Open Office either.
I would give it a tickle in any spare half hour you may have but ultimately I am not sure it will suit every business.
Well, I'm currently in the process of writing my MSc dissertation. Since I started it, I've done it wholly within Google docs. It's ideal for how I work - across many computers in many locations and many platforms.
Common strengths:
* Availible anywhere. Even when you didn't know you needed it somewhere else (what was Mary's phone number again? Oh, I have that spreadsheet...)
* Collaborative. You can be in a document and on the phone, and communicate very effectively (or just use the chat features).
* Basically functional. No complex features, but it has everything you need for most basic documents.
Missing in Spreadsheets:
* Most of what makes Excel useful. Things like dragging a row of numbers to copy, or dragging a different way to move cells.
Missing in Docs:
* Anything formatting or pretty. This is really more of a html editor than a document editor.
* Advanced features.
Overall feelings: I use this occasionally for basic information storage and collaboration. I don't use it for anything I need to really use (haven't printed out a Doc or run high-level calculations in a Spreadsheet). This won't change until/unless they add quite a few features.
I guess what I was curious about was how this might affect the way I use my PDA - whether I use the native word processor and spreadsheet, or boot up the browser. guess I'll be sticking with the on-board applications for a while yet.
I've been trying to get my son to use this (since he seems to have lost his MS Office disk), but I haven't gotten around to using it myself. I think Internet storage is very interesting - I had a pipe dream for a web-based word processor like this (following the Sealy precepts of user interfaces, which are rather different from what most word processors seem to have implemented) (e.g., what's all this bullshit about "Saving" files - the computer should bloody well remember everything you've typed).
Google Docs immediately made me imagine some medical diagnosis application. Input symptoms, get an instant diagnosis and 250,000 links to cheap online meds!!!
(a bit off topic) What I've found really useful is Google's Picasa tool. It finds new pictures when you bring them over from your camera, organizes them nicely, has a good user interface, and has some useful basic editing tools. It also has an easy method of sharing pictures online - either publicly or privately.
I loaded it, but never really used it, I must admit. Gave up and uninstalled it a couple of weeks back.
Google just announced the are bundling Gmail and Google Docs for sale to businesses.
here's one story.
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