Google Docs

Google Docs is Google's online office suite application. It allows you to read and write documents, spreadsheets and presentations. In this review we will be concentrating on the word processing functions. Google Docs was launched in late 2006 as an online alternative for basic office tasks such as word processing and spreadsheets. Google Docs' word processing features all the basic features you would expect from a Word processor, including the ability to bold, italicize and underline text, create lists, insert tables, align text and change font size. There's even a spell check facility that supports over 30 different languages, which is considerably more generous than Microsoft, who have extra dictionaries available, but only for purchase. Google Docs will also allow you to open and edit the Microsoft Word format online, so if you are in a situation where you have no access to computer-based software, you can use Google Docs to get your work done. If you use GMail, you will note how Google Docs is nicely integrated into your e-mails. If you receive an e-mail with a Word document as an attachment, you can open it straight away in Google Docs without having to download it to your hard drive first. Google's aim is to use their online Docs applications to compete with computer based office suites. An online environment can offer certain advantages in this respect. When using an online application, your files are all automatically stored to Google's web servers and automatically saved at regular intervals. This means that if your own computer's hard drive crashes, you will still have your files available online. On the other hand, if your internet fails, you won't be able to use Google Docs, as it is entirely internet based. As web based office suites are still in their infancy, there are other points were Google Docs comes up short. For example, you don't see any print margins or page breaks when you are editing a document. This isn't a problem if you are only writing a short letter, but if you are editing a very long document, this could be a major problem. Also, the number of fonts available is severely limited when compared to the standard fonts available on a Windows or Mac machine, so if you are doing DTP work you wouldn't want to use Google Docs. Google Docs sports Google's familiar spartan, yet functional, design. You won't find any graphical bells and whistles here, just the basics that you need to make everything work. This saves in loading time and allows you to focus on getting your work done quickly and efficiently. The look and feel of the word processing tool bars, as well as the icons used, are reminiscent of Microsoft Word, so anybody used to working in a Microsoft word processing environment will feel immediately at home. The menus also look and function just as the menus in an computer-based program would, so much so that it's easy to forget that you are using a web-based service! You will be required to register in order to use Google Docs. You are required only to specify your e-mail and password, with no further personal information being required. If you already use GMail, then your GMail account information can also be used to log into Google Docs, as well as all other Google services. Google Docs is a free service with over 6 GB of storage space. If you choose to upgrade to the Google Apps premium service for small businesses, you will be given up to 25GB storage space per account. Google Docs, while not yet a replacement for computer based word processing, offers a very useful and free online service. You can freely open, amongst others, Microsoft Word documents and do basic editing online without the need to install any software, with your documents stored online. This means that somebody on the go can do basic word processing from any internet cafe or free internet point, without the need to bring anything with them. But for power users and people preparing large documents, Google Docs doesn't yet compete with traditional, computer based word processors.