Will Google Docs replace Microsoft Office ?

Recently, Google quietly began placing some of their newer projects and acquisitions into the spotlight. An excellent example has presented itself, particularly with respect to GMail and the related web app, Google Docs and Spreadsheets. A recent update to the GMail feature set highlights increased integration of the many Google projects:

Gmail users receiving attached documents now have the ability to view them via Google Docs and Spreadsheets, which presents a sleek in-browser word processor interface. Emails arriving with a document attached will now display a "open as a google document" in addition to the usual "View as HTML" and "Download" options.

Features:

The Google Docs interface is quite feature complete for most users. The expected text functions are present: font face, size and style, justification, lists and bullets, line spacing, undo history, spell check, tables, embedding of multimedia, etc. Extremely important, of course, are the formats to which it is able to export: Microsoft Word, OpenOffice, RTF, PDF, and HTML. I have tested each with a variety of document setups (both imported and exported), and whereas Writely occasionally had some issues, Google Docs has these functions perfected. In addition to saving files in common formats, Google Docs permits the publishing of a document directly to a blog - several common blogging providers are supported including Google's own Blogger, Wordpress, and LiveJournal. One HIGHLY useful function is a preserved revision history, allowing one to revert to a previous version instantly. Finally, the collaborative functions of the interface should not be undervalued; it is exceptionally simple to invite another person to view and/or edit the document (revisions tracked by individual of course).

The end result is really quite usable, much like the Writely interface from which the bulk of Google Docs has been constructed. For more on Writely and Google, read on.

Some history:

For quite some time, Google's purchase of Upstartle's Writely in March 2006 seemed to be dormant. Finally, last October marked the full incorporation of Writely into Google - gone was the Writely brand with Google in its place. It was then that Google Docs & Spreadsheets was launched with some considerable fanfare (970 diggs all told). The Docs & Spreadsheets interface allows for a complete word processing experience entirely for free, complete with collaboration in publishing, document sharing, and with the added benefit of integration into Google's most popular products.

Curiously, some leftovers from the Writely migration to Google remain:
Breaking the news of Google Docs debut, Techcrunch also asserted that this latest move by the search giant was "a shot across the bow of Microsoft Office." While this remains to be seen, these latest developments point towards a more aggressive future. It is certain, however, that as we migrate towards a network-aware mode of computing, products such as these shall become the norm, and the advantages they afford will far outweigh those of more traditional applications.

By Steve Maresca

Office 2007- Worth the Upgrade?

Upgrading to Office 2007 costs more than $200 for most users, making it a pricey proposition. It also comes with some radically different changes, which some say causes a steep learning curve. Is it worth the hassle? Here's what's new and what's it worth to the average home and business user.

What's new?

The biggest change to Office 2007 is the interface. Menus are gone, replaced with what Microsoft is calling a ribbon. This ribbon extends across the top of the screen and contains most - but not all - of the functions the menus used to have. Each ribbon also has tabs at the top, allowing you to move to a different set of functions. For example, Word has seven different function groups, each containing at least a dozen separate features. The setup in Excel all other office programs is quite similar. There's no way to bring the menus back and no way to customize what they contain.

The other new feature to reckon with is that the file formats have changed. .DOC has become .DOCX, and .XLS has become .XLSX. This is because Microsoft has made Office files based on the XML scripting language, forcing a change in extension. This new file format cannot be opened with older versions of Office, although there is an option to save it in the old format.

Across the board, Office 2007 is more template-driven. Everything looks better and there are more options for customization. Microsoft hosts a massive library of templates free to download for any registered Office 2007 user.

In Microsoft Word, the big graphical change is the default font. Say goodbye to Times New Roman and hello to Calibri. It looks smoother and more modern, but it takes a little getting used to. Word also contains an integrated citation program that can automatically generate a bibliography or a works cited page - a godsend for the average student. There is a new tool to insert a title page with several templates. Finally, the program also includes a tool that compares two versions of a document and highlights changes.

In terms of Excel, the formula bar is resized, and the formula writing process is a lot easier and intuitive. Excel also now allows each document to contain more rows and columns, helpful for the truly epic project. The graphing feature also receives an overdue update, producing much more modern-looking charts.