Word and Excel on the web brought to you by Google

They're actually calling it Docs and Spreadsheets, but they also mean Word and Excel.

If you haven't checked it out yet, go to docs.google.com.

The implications of this release from a big giant like Google is quite significant. First the technology behind rich apps on the web has been around for quite some time now (remember the promise of Java?). But the timing in the past was not always quite right for many reasons, some due to logistics (most people were still on dialup), and maybe people were just not yet ready to use apps that they thought of as desktop apps on the web.

So we had to take baby steps with web email being the first of these desktop apps that slowly became widely accepted on the web. When Hotmail came out in the mid-90s, people were using it primarily as a secondary email account. Something to use when you buy things online (so that your private email remains, well private). And the performance and features were just not that great in the beginning, but those who used hotmail then really liked the ability to check their emails from any web browser anywhere in the world. And it's FREE, how about that?

But a few years later Google mail came along with almost unlimited storage space and features that made it behave almost like desktop email. Soon people were using it not as a secondary email account but as their primary email account. Why get stuck with a Comcast or Verizon email account when you can have Gmail and not have to worry about switching your email address again when you finally got tired of Comcast and switched to Verizon?

So now people are starting to be pretty comfortable with rich web apps and after email and IM, what other apps do we use? Word and Excel (really they're calling it Docs & Spreadsheets) on the web is not only great because you can use it from any computer with a browser but think about the number of times you sent someone a Word document and they didn't have MS Word installed on their computer, or they were on a Mac and you assumed they at least had Windows Write on their machine (which could also open Word files). The beauty of Google docs and spreadsheets is it works great on a Mac as well.

The ultimate goal is to allow people to essentially access their digital domain on any computer. So you're no longer tied to a single computer. I've been lugging my laptop with me all these years and one of the things I dread is what if something happened to my laptop. I have all my files, email and my favorite apps on my laptop. Sure I have backups but if I was in a bind and lost my laptop, it would take me hours if not a full-day just to get my computer environment back. Why be tied to a single computer? I really like the idea of being able to just walk up to a computer terminal in the library, or my Aunt's house and in a few seconds my digital domain is in front of me.

There will be lots of questions about privacy and control that will further shape the growth and acceptance of this technology. But it's truly great to see a big step towards changing the way we think about using computers.

Technorati Tags: percworks, ezColumbia, Robin Abello, Columbia Maryland, Technology, Community, Google, Google Docs & Spreadsheets

Mapquest gets an upgrade

Finally I can start using Mapquest again.

For a long time now I have been using Google Maps or Yahoo Maps instead of Mapquest because of the click and drag the map feature. It's a feature that allows me to see the route more and find other ways to get to a destination. And being that Mapquest is the map site that most people use (at least that's what I gather since most people often remark they'll Mapquest the directions) it's a much needed upgrade otherwise it wouldn't have been long before people went the same direction I did. In fact on some of the earlier pages we had built on ezColumbia we only used Mapquest and for quite some time now we have been thinking of converting those links to Google Maps mainly because of this feature ... but now we don't have to do that anymore (on our new pages we do offer links to both Mapquest and Google Maps).

Technorati Tags: percworks, ezColumbia, Robin Abello, Columbia Maryland, Technology, Community, Mapquest

Ask.com - worth another look?

Check out this article about Ask.com from USAToday.

For those of you familiar with Ask Jeeves, well, it's now Ask.com. The technology behind Ask Jeeves is now the search engine behind Ask.com. Their method of searching is to organize the search results into different groups of results instead of just giving you all the results and letting you take care of finding the relevant information you're looking for.

Comparing the results from Google and Ask.com when searching for "Columbia MD", both agree on their #1 result --- General Growth's website on Columbia. The rest of the results are pretty mixed for both (probably a result of the link farms out there that skew the results for those who subscribe to SEO services). But it was nice to see the Columbia Wikipedia page on Google's results (#4) and Columbia Association's website on Ask.com's results (#2). Interestingly the wikipedia page didn't appear on Ask.com's first page results and the Columbia association's website didn't appear on Google's first page results either. I looked at pages 2,3,4 and 5 of Google's results and the Columbia association website didn't appear there either.

Now what about Ask.com's organizing into different search groups (they call it clusters) feature? Well, the search groups it found were links to more defined searches for "Columbia, Maryland", "Columbia MD Restaurants", "Columbia MD Mall", "Jobs Columbia MD", "Fireworks in Columbia MD", "Columbia Association Maryland" and so on. If you drill down on those searches, the results are still pretty mixed.

But I think the technology is promising. And trying it out on more common search topics like "wifi" or a school research item like "photosynthesis" yields search group results that effectively provide guidance on where else to look for additional information. The search groups for photosynthesis were "Process of photosynthesis", "Photosynthesis diagrams", "Chlorophyll", "Steps of Photosynthesis", "Light Reactions" and so on.

So is it worth another look? Give it a try and see for yourself.

Technorati Tags: percworks, ezColumbia, Robin Abello, Columbia Maryland, Technology, Community, Google, Ask.com

Groovix - the new computer systems in the library

When I was at the library last week (East branch) I noticed on one table there were 6 keyboards/mouse and monitor attached to a single computer. The Howard County library had been using Linux for quite some time now and when I saw that setup I thought it was pretty clever of them to use Linux in that way. Not only is it cost-effective but it's great for maintenance (instead of maintaining 6 computers for 6 users, they just have to maintain 1 computer).

I then thought of where else this kind of setup would be ideal and I thought schools where you usually have a room full of computers and maybe even some offices where people sit not too far from each other. Because the keyboard/mouse and monitor have to connect back to the computer, you can't be too far unless you get special long cables. I even thought about it for homes where you can setup up two terminals (monitor,keyboard/mouse) and the kids can effectively be using just one computer (so no more scheduling conflicts on who gets to use the computer).

The Groovix Linux system is made by a company called Open Sense Solutions. They're saying you can turn one computer into essentially ten computers. Check them out!

Technorati Tags: percworks, ezColumbia, Robin Abello, Columbia Maryland, Technology, Community, Groovix, Howard County Library

Google's garage

Check out this story fron CNN --- Google buys their old office garage.

And they used to joke that their office had a remote control door ... like a garage door opener. Sounds like it was a pretty comfy office with access to a hot tub and a fridge with food. The $1700 rent was probably pretty good though considering how much more expensive renting an office in Silicon Valley is ... and with a hot tub, that's probably a bargain. Nice to see that they spent their $1 million wisely instead of going for the big digs right away.

Technorati Tags: percworks, ezColumbia, Robin Abello, Columbia Maryland, Technology, Community, Google