Google Docs Review

Google Docs – an Exciting Alternative

Google Docs is an exciting alternative to the Microsoft Office suite of applications or any other office document management system.  Google Docs includes the following four main office management applications: (click on each application type to be taken to Google’s help page for that application)

• Document application very much like MS Word 2003 (not 2007).  This makes it much more familiar to most of us.
• Spreadsheet application that is very much like MS Excel 2003
• Presentation application that is like MS PowerPoint
• A drawing / charting / diagramming application which MS Office does not really have.

There are a number of universities and other institutions of higher learning that are using Google Docs.  Here is a video clip of Educators talking about how they use Google Docs in educational settings:

The Google Docs Advantage:

The advantages of Google Docs are many.  Here are a few:

• It is free.  It is part of Google’s Gmail system and competition with MS for “World Domination”.
• Easy to learn and use because it has the look and feel of what we are already used to.
• No need to worry about document storage loss and backups etc as all documents are stored in the “virtual clouds”.
  • Access from anywhere in the world – with or without your “own” computer.  Just login to your account from any computer and you have access to all of your documents.
  • Huge storage capacity
• No need to hassle the incompatibilities of different OS platforms as it is all web based.  So whether you are on a Mac, a PC or a Linux machine the documents are all the same.
• Amazing collaboration possibilities on documents
  • documents are private and secure to you – owned by you.
  • you can share a document with one or many people and work on the document together
  • collaboration is “real time” – you can work on the same document at the same time
  • collaboration is easy to track who wrote what.
• Online chat is always available while you are collaborating on documents

Here is cute video clip demonstrating how collaboration works with a Google Docs document:

Northwest’s Answer:

Northwest has our own dedicated login to access these applications and they are associated with our website and with each other.  It is linked to your @nbseminary.com email address.  Even if you do not use that email you can still use the other applications.  To access them just:

• Login to your documents at http://docs.nbseminary.com
• Login to your @nbseminary.com email at http://email.nbseminary.com
• Login to your personal Google calendar at http://calendar.nbseminary.com

Finally, Why Google Docs