Embracing Technology

 

Google Docs is killing Microsoft Word

 

Intro

This is not an exaggeration, trust me. Google Docs is a really powerful browser based word processing application; it can kill others of same type you’re using now in no time.

From WordStar, WordPerfect, Notepad, Microsoft Word, OpenOffice Writer, now the world is going to adopt the latest word processing technology – Google Docs (and Spreadsheets).

While having the basic features of any of the word processors, Google Docs also provides a whole lot useful extra features for your word processing and business needs.

 

You can have a tour at Google Docs and Spreadsheets. I will just cover some basics of the useful and interesting features as this application is not rocket science. You will notice that there are a number of comparison with MS Word as MS Word is what I’m using very often thus the tendency of comparing with it.

 

There are easily tons of applications that Google has provided since their search engine launch and my opinion is that Google is making a revolution how technology works globally.

Google is certainly one of the technology pioneer and they are doing a great job to the world by providing useful tools for free. They are definitely one of the few guys that are actually doing “Corporate Social Responsibility” directly and indirectly. A very credit deserving company!

 

 

Embracing Technology – Google Docs and Spreadsheet test cases:

Creating

Create basic documents and spreadsheets from scratch.
You can easily do all the basics, including making bulleted lists, sorting by columns, adding tables, images, comments, formulas, changing fonts and more. And it’s free.

Test : Try to create a new document and spreadsheet while checking out their functionalities.

The screen is almost similar as composing a new email in Gmail.

Only selected few fonts are available. Right click for the floating menu enabling Cut, Copy, Paste, Select All. Enabled keyboard shortcut like Ctrl-C, Ctrl V, Ctrl A, and Ctrl S

Change List allow you to modified Bulleting format. (Like “Bullets and Numbering” in MS Word)

I tried to create tables. Clicking on the Insert tab, I have the options to insert Image, Link, Comment, Table, Bookmark, Separator, and Special Character.

I inserted Table and a dialog for the table settings is then shown. By clicking “Tab” button, I can jump from a cell to another and even auto insert rows when it reaches the last cell. When I do a mouse right-click, a whole long list of menu items is available for even more functions!

Conclusion :

The “Create basic documents” is wrong! They should use “Create any documents” instead. “BASIC” is an understatement. “BASIC” is for Notepad. Your opinion may differ, but to me Rich Text format is already more than basic.

Just a brief few minutes of experience has already given me a wonderful feel of the online and powerful Word processor on Earth. (At least as of the current moment) I would not need to say more, try it out for yourself.

Upload your existing files.
Google Docs & Spreadsheets accepts most popular file formats, including DOC, XLS, ODT, ODS, RTF, CSV, etc. So go ahead and upload your existing files; all your formatting and formulas will come through intact.

Test : Upload a Document (.DOC) and Spreadsheet (.XLS) , and compare the difference with the actual file.

Let down: Documents and spreadsheet is limited up to 500KB. Since this is only a BETA version, I hope the constraint will be removed in the future.

I uploaded a Word Document with basic fonts and other fonts not listed in Google Docs. There is also a basic table and header formats in the document.

The output in Word Document more or less is still presentable and most of it looks the same as the original with the exceptions that some headers format has changed. Probably due to unavailable fonts.

I tried to upload an Excel Document as well. The Google Docs and Google Spreadsheets seems to be of different domain so it will bring you to an intermediate screen for sign-in or auto sign-in if you have already login to your Google account in Google Docs.

The XLS content I uploaded is a basic one thus not much difference from the original. The match is quite satisfactory.

Conclusion :

The upload is quite fast, probably the reason for the limitation of 500KB file size.

Content rendering is quite satisfactory as I have yet to try uploading complex stuff.

There is a feature for emailing of documents; a feature I think is useful for collaboration. You will be given a special email address to correspond to your Google Docs account. The site indicated that you can send email to the mentioned email address, and the content or attached document will be converted to a new online document and saved in your account. If you intend to share with some other recipients, by putting them in the carbon copy recipient list, they will be automatically invited. Cool idea isn’t it.

Familiar desktop feel makes editing a breeze.
Just click the toolbar buttons to bold, underline, indent, change the font or number format, change the cell background color and so on.

Test : Try the mentioned functions.

Conclusion :

Familiar desktop : YES. I believe they have taken multiple extra miles to provide the desktop feel on the internet browser.

Although there could as well be a lot of functionalities not provided, as a quick test, most of the features I used are easily available.

One thing worth mentioning is also the link on the bottom which shows Check Spelling. Spelling check! By clicking the link, it will scan your document for wrong spelling and highlight the words. On clicking the highlighted word, a list of suggestions will show, or you can even add to Dictionary. Yeah, I know, nothing new, but it’s online….

Sharing

Choose who can access your documents and spreadsheets.
Just enter the email addresses of the people with whom you want to share a given file and send them an invitation.

Test : I was the recipient of an invitation before I started to check this Google Docs. It has already captured my attention on first usage.

Conclusion :

The sharing of documents is made easy via Google Docs.

Once the document is shared, the name of the person you’re sharing the document with is shown.

Share instantly.
Anyone you’ve invited to either edit or view your document or spreadsheet can access it as soon as they sign in.

Test : Use invitation.

Conclusion :

Yes, you can edit or view instantly, waiting period is for the invitation email to arrive in your mailbox for the first time.

Edit with others in real time.
Multiple people can view and make changes at the same time. There’s an on-screen chat window for spreadsheets, and document revisions show you exactly who changed what, and when.

Test : To have more than one person make changes on a shared file at the same time. I have yet to test this.

This is probably the best test for Google doc. I tried editing the same document with another person at the same time. There is a notice below showing who is the person also editing and an option for you to refresh the document content.

Ok, next one, on Spreadsheet. There’s a “Discuss” tab where you can actually chat with the person who is also editing the same spreadsheet. For Spreadsheet, you do not need to explicitly call a “Refresh” as you can see what the other party is editing REAL-TIME! Another killer feature.

 

Conclusion :

I believe this real-time sharing is the best thing Google Docs and Spreadsheet is offering. The guys in Google are really really doing an awfully great job!

Creating and editing a document real-time will save time and flexibility in collaborative work or group work. There is no need for saving of different copies and making sure everybody has the same copy.

Just one SINGLE version, and everybody refers to it.

Storing

Organize your documents. ^New!
Easily find your documents by organizing them into folders. Drag and drop your documents into as many folders as you want.

Test :

Create some folders and drag drop documents into them.

The folder, of which a particular document is in, is shown in green. I have highlighted them in red bordered color boxes.

Conclusion :

Creating folder is a breeze too. The drag and drop is nice where the whole document row is semi transparent and highlighting of the folder you will be dropping into. Much, much better than dragging emails in Windows Live Hotmail.

Edit from anywhere.
There’s nothing to download; you access your documents and spreadsheets from any computer with an Internet connection and a standard browser. And it’s free.

Test : Try accessing my documents from my laptop in my bathroom.

Conclusion :

If anybody said you cannot multi-tasks, tell them you can work on your personal business while updating the document for your corporate business both together. That’s multi-tasking.

Standard browser? Which one?

Malaysia’s internet connection isn’t free yet, but Google Docs is.

Safely store your work.
Online storage and auto-save mean you needn’t fear local hard drive failures and power outages.

Test : To check auto-save

Conclusion :

I believe it is the same code for gmail draft auto-save. Nothing new, but there is something useful on having a Ctrl-S for saving and saving revisions of the documents. You can select a few revisions of the documents for comparison or reverting back to a particular version.

I’m quite particular on safety or security though. “Safely storing your work” might apply for having backup copies of the documents but does not mean that your document is safe from prying eyes. I did not see any secure connection mode or any encryption so it is more for public sharing of documents in a convenient and free from loss manner.

Easily save and export copies.
You can save your files to your own computer in DOC, XLS, CSV, ODS, ODT, PDF, RTF and HTML formats.

Test :

To save Document as .DOC, PDF, RTF and HTML.

To save Spreadsheet as CVS, HTML, PDF and XLS.

Conclusion :

A breeze to export file. The output could vary in different formats. Export is done via the menu File -> Export.

Saving Document has varying degree of differences. The RTF format is being the less accurate of matching the original file. HTML is saved in a zipped file.

Saving Spreadsheet has varying differences too. You might need to save per sheet each for formats like CSV, HTML and plain text. There are a few choices or settings to choose for PDF format.

Publishing

Publish your work as a web page.
You can publish your documents and spreadsheets online with one click, as normal-looking web pages, without having to learn anything new.

Test : Publish a sample Document

http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=df4m79jt_0d4hkjj

Conclusion :

It is a bloated term for Publishing. Once your document is uploaded and editable, the publishing is actually providing the link to the document for you and everybody else online since it’s already in HTML. Only that it is through your permission that the document is viewable by public. Should be a snap for Google to publish anything you have in their servers. (Problem is just getting your consent).

Control who can see your pages.
You can publish to the entire world, just a few people or no one — it’s up to you. (You can also un-publish at any time.)

Test : To enable a test document to be view by public, by a particular person or nobody.

Conclusion :

As the previous test, publishing is to view by public. Done.

I do not see any menu for viewing for just a few people. Thus I believe it is actually referring to Document sharing, that it is only viewable to the people that you have sent invitation to share the document.

If you do no want to share, easy. Just keep it under your own belt and no sharing.

Post your documents to your blog.
Once you’ve created a document, you can post it to your blog.

Test :

Publish this post by saving as a Word document, upload to Google Doc and publish to my WordPress.com blog.

Conclusion :

This is really WYSIWYG (What you see is what you get). You are looking at the actual blog post which I have created offline and the published via Google Docs.

However, I noticed that the blog title is referring to your document file name and you will still need to make some minor changes to enable display of the post to your preferences.

Publish within your company or group.
With Google Apps, it’s even easier to share important documents and spreadsheets within your company or group.

Test : No test.

Conclusion :

Google Apps actually brings you to http://www.google.com/a/?utm_medium=et&utm_source=dands which lists all the Google applications like Gmail, Google Talk, Google Calendar, Docs & Spreadsheets, Page Creator and Start Page.

It is a marketing or promotion strategy to get you to use all of Google applications in your business, either small or big.

Standard Edition is provided free, Premier Edition is $50/user account/year.

I’m not sure how many businesses will sign-up for Premier Edition, but purely using Standard Edition is beneficial since it’s free.

 

Future of Word Processing

The PC is personal again and public again. Time has shifted from creating documents offline and making multiple copies for sharing, merging them and checking revisions.

You can now perform the same tasks easier through Google Docs less the hassle of trying to get everybody looking at the same updated page and revision where everybody has different offline copies.

 

Google Docs and Spreadsheets is definitely a neat way to create fast Documents and Spreadsheet if:

• You do not have MS Word or MS Excel installed

• You do not have a licensed copy of MS Word or MS Excel installed

• You’re sick of using Microsoft Word and Excel

• You’re sick of using OpenOffice

• You need to create a PDF file fast to send to somebody

• You only live with your laptop and browser

• You support saving trees, environment and resources

 

However, it’s NOT neat for you if:

• You are creating Private and Confidential documents

• Your files are larger than 500KB

• You are very particular about the formatting of your documents

• You are using dial-up internet connection

• You disable javascript in your browser

• You dare not try new things

 

Anyway, I recommend you to give it a try.

Is this going to kill Microsoft Word and Excel or not? Time will tell.