Thing #18

Ahhh...Google to the rescue! For some reason (I am sure it is just the format) all things Google seem so much easier for me to understand! I played around with Googledocs. I wasn't quite sure why one would need these products if you had the good old Microsoft Office Suite, however I read several of the reviews and it became clearer! I guess the obvious advantage is it is free! I do get frustrated that Microsoft (and other software companies) update and change their products every year or so and you are forced to buy the new product which does not seem to "read" or be compatible with the older product. The online tools seem to be updated instantly without one having to make any more purchases. Another advantage is that it is all online - so there is no need to worry about storage issues or access from other computers. To be able to access your work from anyplace and anytime seems to be a recurring theme with all of these new online tools. Also, it appears from reading the reviews that folks love being able to read, publish and edit their docs in "real time" - I can certainly see it being nice for documents to be able to be shared easily on the web versus trying to email everything. These are a great alternative.