Alright, I know this post may make me sound like I’m arriving late to the Google Docs party So fine, I can take it. And I’ll admit that I haven’t had any real opportunities to use Google docs for shared document creation. But in a recent workshop I was part of a team where we had a lot of collaborating to do in very little time — and we used Google docs as our collaboration platform. It was simple, easy to set up, and worked REALLY well. The coolest thing was that we all had the document visible on our computers and could watch the edits unfold as each person took turns on it. No need to refresh the screens — no need to hand off the editing. In fact the document showed who was actively editing which section. It was easy, dynamic, and a crucial resource to support our collaborations.
What I’ve seen of Microsoft Sharepoint doesn’t offer anything like this. And even MediaWiki (Wikipedia’s software) isn’t as easy and intuitive as Google docs. Now Google docs is a propriety platform, and the Google service terms will make many IT departments nervous, especially with regards to service level agreements. But it works really well. And there have been some recent improvements, such as LDAP/Active Directory authentication and it is out of beta. And with Google Gears you can have some access to documents when off-line (or when Google Docs goes off line.) I can see why users are asking about our support of Google Docs — if it is not part of your strategy yet it is time to give them a serious look.
there’s a new tool for Google Apps users that lets businesses sync the user account information in Google Apps with the business’s LDAP user directory system. If you’re in I.T., you probably already know what that means, but if not let me spell it out for you: Google now syncs with Microsoft’s Active Directory.
Official Google Blog: Google Apps is out of beta (yes, really)
Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Docs and Google Talk — both enterprise and consumer versions — are now out of beta. “Beta” will be removed from the product logos today, but we’ll continue to innovate and improve upon the applications whether or not there’s a small “beta” beneath the logo.
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Randall Rode's online home for thoughts, notes, and experiments with a wide range of technology topics. Visit the about page for info on my recent projects and professional background. I welcome your comments!
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