 There is something to be said for a quality product that just works. Google, in its ever present goal for world domination, has provided something that is absolutely fantastic. I mean absolutely freakin' fantastic! For those of you who don't know, that product is called Google Docs. Google Docs is Google's answer to Microsoft's Word, Excel & PowerPoint offerings and I'm here to tell you people that it rocks! I have been using it for the past few weeks after my Microsoft Office trial expired on my new laptop. Google Docs allows you to create documents, spreadsheets and presentations right over the web. As I told you in one of my past articles, I think that Google is going to push Microsoft in the same way that Microsoft pushed Netscape and this product is one of the ways that is going to happen . So without going through that again (you should read that article because it was pretty good :-)), I'm going to tell you the top reasons that I think you should dump Office and move on over to Google Docs.
1. Google Docs Is Entirely Web Based
What does this mean to you? It means that you can have access to your important documents anywhere in the world! No need to travel with your flash drives that may be stolen or damaged. No need to run around wondering if you bought the right files with you. As long as you can access the Internet, you can access your files. It's that simple! What happens when you need your files on your local machine? Just export the file from Google Docs in html, rtf, Word, OpenOffice, PDF or text and you can have your file on your local machine.
2. Google Docs Allows You To Quickly Share Your Docs With Others & Collaborate In Real Time With Them
When you create a Google Doc, you are allowed to share it. When you share the document, other people can look at it, change it and update it. The changes are reflected in real time to other people working on the document. This collaborative environment is great if you are, for instance, on a conference call and need people to be able to see what you are talking about in real time. If you were doing a remote presentation and your client asked you to change something, you could change it and your client would see it in real-time.
3. Google Docs Allows You To See If Your Collaborators Have Actually Done What They Were Supposed To Do
Google allows you to view a feed that contains changes to a document. If you share a document with an employee, for instance, you can monitor all of the changes made to the document. If you are working in a team environment and you need to make sure that certain changes were made before you make your changes, you can easily look at the change history and see if the changes you required were made. How is that for looking over someone's shoulder?
4. Google Docs Allows You To Publish Your Document From Inside The Interface
You can easily publish your document directly to your blog. You can also publish the document to the web. Google will assign your document a unique URL that you can then share with the world. This is also extremely useful if you want to promote your blog using Google Docs. You can create back links back to your website or blog by creating a great document that was published with Google Docs and has a Google URL.
5. Google Docs Is Not Operating System Dependent
This kind of goes hand in hand with my first point, but, this is worthy of its own point for one simple reason. Who knows what will happen with the Windows, the Mac OS, the Linux, the Unix, the whatever. When you have your documents and spreadsheets on Google Docs, you don't have to care! You don't have to wonder about what OS you are using. You don't have to care if Apple decides to not allow any non-Apple products on their computers or if Windows gives you the blue screen of death every time you turn on your computer or if Windows Vista hogs so many resources that you can't open your word processor. You don't have to wonder or worry about any of those items because Google Docs doesn't depend on any operating system. How is that for freedom?
6. Google Docs Allows You To Add The Word, Excel & PowerPoint Documents That You Have Already Created
Already have documents in the Office format? That's fine! The people over at Google that love us have made it easy to upload our already created documents without drama and hassle. How is that for making life easy?
7. Google Docs Provides Us With A Familiar Interface And Almost Non Existent Learning Curve
If you have been using Office for years you will not have to go through a long learning curve to get started with Google Docs. The interface is very simple and uncluttered (unlike the darn ribbons Microsoft 'decided' we would prefer over the familiar interface we have been using for years!
8. You Can Easily Create A Document On Your Computer Or Mobile Device And Just Email It To Your Google Doc Accounts
Uploading documents to your account is so simple. If you can type in an email address, then you can upload documents you have created to your Google Docs account. Google gives you a unique email address when you set up your Google Docs account. You can then use that email address to send documents directly to your Google Doc account. How much easier can uploading documents you create on your phone or computer get?
9. Google Docs Allows You To Restore Your Blog Articles Easily If Something Happens
Ummm....just ask me how I know about this one? By creating your articles in Google Docs, you can always replace them on your server should the need ever arise. I had a situation a few weeks ago that required that I restore my blog articles. Since they were on Google Docs, I was able to complete the restoration easily. Google Docs offers you are great place for not only creating your documents, but also for maintaining backups of your documents. You will never have to worry about how you will replace your locally destroyed documents again. They will be safe and well fed on the Google site - the ultimate document babysitter!
10. Google Docs is 100% Free
Free doesn't necessarily mean better, however, in the case of Google Docs - it does! You get a product that works flawlessly combined with the features you are accustomed to AND it's free! What more could you ask for?
To use Google Docs, you need to have a Google account. If you already have a Google account (which you should), then you can just log into your account and go to the links below. If you aren't using Google Docs right now, my suggestion would be to try it. Google changed the color of the Docs interface for Valentine's day. Personally I love it. The normal interface is dull looking to me. I will let you make your own choice.
To view the Google Docs interface in Valentine's Day pink -
click here.
To view the Google Docs interface with the normal colors - click here.
Posted By Kila Morton
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