Using Google Apps and Google Docs is quite an accessible and functional way to collaborate and manage documents in a Software-as-a-Service web environment, but leveraging this data in an enterprise environment could prove somewhat difficult — that is until Panorama Software released Panorama Analytics and Panorama PowerApps.
Microsoft has announced a milestone with its Office Live Workspace product: It’s scored its millionth user. And the company has announced the product will be out of beta this year.
Yay, Microsoft. Now go back and build the service we want, please.
There are people who say that Office Live is a Google Docs competitor. It certainly could be, someday, and I’d like to see that. But it’s not right now. What it is right now is a way for people who have paid for the Microsoft Office suite to share files with other people who have the suite. It’s useful, but it’s no Google Docs, nor Zoho for that matter.
Those other productivity suites are a) free, and b) browser-based. They don’t require that you pay for and then install software on your PC.
As ZDNet’s Mary Jo Foley writes, Microsoft believes that users don’t want to create big files and documents “on the Web.” Maybe that’s because they can’t.
Offlice Live does have its own text editor, but it’s rather weak and doesn’t have Google Docs’ killer feature: simultaneous editing. If someone edits a document you’ve got open and you then try to save it, you get a conflict error and have to decide whose edits you want to kill.
I believe Microsoft could make an honest Google Docs competitor without killing its Microsoft Office business. Eventually, Microsoft will have to. So it might be smart for Microsoft to encourage people to start thinking about the company as an expansive supplier of productivity solutions–desktop and Web-based–rather than just a company that makes desktop office products that, by the way, also have some add-on Web support.
Tidbit: Office Live Workspace works nicely in Internet Explorer and also in Firefox. But you get a blocking error page if you try to use it in Google Chrome.
See more here:
Office Live, you’re no Google Docs
If you’re not satisfied with Google’s cute but data-sucking incarnation of Google Docs through mobile Safari you might want to download MiGhtyDocs. This free application on the app store will pull down all of your documents and spreadsheets from the service, making them available to read and access even when away from a data connection.
All you have to do to get any document cached for offline viewing is open it once. If there are any changes since the last time you accessed it, they’ll be download the next time it syncs back up with Google’s servers. If you’re worried about privacy you can also completely clear out the cache whenever you please.
Despite its charms, the application is missing a few things that would make it the holy grail of Google Docs tools. It’s lacking support for Google’s latest Docs addition–presentations. It also always remembers your account information, so if your phone gets stolen someone could get extensive access to your work. That said you can’t create new items, rename files, or send anything to someone else through e-mail, so you don’t have to worry about people changing or distributing existing work.
I still like that you can grab something large like an expense sheet or eBook from Google Docs, then access it while offline. It makes for a handy utility if you’re willing to approach it as a middleman for your content. Developer Thomas Post (aka v1ru8) is also the creator or two other applications, iPhoneNotes and the upcoming Marks.
Check out all your Google Documents at once, then open them to read later–even when offline.
(Credit: CNET Networks / Josh Lowensohn)
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MiGhtyDocs puts offline Google Docs on your iPhone
Users of Google Docs, the online applications for word processing, spreadsheets, and presentations, now have a wide range of templates from which to choose.
Google on Thursday announced the templates, which were created by Google and a number of companies with experience in the business. They can be browsed and opened through a template gallery that currently has 294 to choose from.
Google Docs users now can use a wide range of templates.
(Credit: Google)
Among the options: wedding planners, business cards, cover letters, screenplays with proper formatting, invoices, loan amortization schedulers, fantasy basketball standings predictor, wedding photo albums, and party invitations.
I personally was excited to see the Sudoku template, was initially disappointed that it looked broken, but then realized much of its interface, including a solution checker, is available through tabs at the bottom of the document. When can we get a Kakuro template?
Some templates, such as the group shared expense report, are explicitly designed to take advantage of the fact that Google Docs can be edited by multiple people, one of the natural advantages the technology has over PC-based editing.
Microsoft has long shipped many templates with its Office suite, and many companies and individuals offer their own online, but I see some interesting potential here for some good user-generated content. So far, though, I don’t see any way for people to upload their own templates to the gallery.
Originally posted here:
Google Docs gets a profusion of templates
