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Posts Tagged ‘Cloud Computing’

Zoho Writer

Posted by thetechmanual on August

Zoho

When you buy a new computer you’ll find that most computers have Microsoft Works and sometimes a time trial of Microsoft Word which expires within months. Works can not open documents from Word and so it becomes almost useless in the real world because you can not use it for business or school.

There are two free options. OpenOffice.org can provide you with a very robust office suite capable of opening Word documents and more. But then if you move to another computer you have to reinstall in that computer. You also have to transport the document through email or USB. Download then save again then upload or copy. Simply to make a small change. Keep in mind everytime more and more copies are being made which make it easier to loose track of which version is the most current. Then if you want to send the document to someone for editing and maybe to another person to add some graphics or tables, more and more duplicates are being created.

Zoho Writer

Here’s a strategy to simplify everything. Create or upload the document in Zoho writer. Zoho is a free registration web based full suite of applications of which Zoho Writer is one. It has plenty of editing functions to satisfy all, but the most demanding users. You create the document once in the web. It stays there. You can open it like an email at another computer without any difference to the experience. You want to share it with multiple people click on share and type in their email address. Then they have access to view or edit the singular original in the web. Still no copies are being made.

While editing by two or more collaborators the Writer locks part of the document so both users can still work on the same document but on different blocks of data simultaneously in a maximum way to keep integrity. It keeps integrity by locking blocks of the actual content to become read only while that block is being edited and still letting the other user visually see what part of the content is being locked because of the editing being done while still letting you see the edits by the other collaborator. I know hard to follow, but basically its a very intuitive way of working on the same document without bothering the other user.

This allows for every person in the group to have the most up to date view of the most current changes virtually in realtime. Virtually means you see your changes instantly but it takes 0 to 7 seconds on average for the other users to receive your changes depending on the browser chosen. (On my informal test, edits went from Firefox to IE from one editor to another in 3 to 4 seconds from IE to Firefox in 6 to 7.)

While editing, Zoho Writer keeps track of the version so you always have copies in case you want to recover that brilliant paragraph a collaborator deleted yesterday. This copies are basically invisible until you need them. Simply click History to see them.

If you wonder about capability here’s the toolbar:

It may not suffice for elaborate publishings and fliers, but for communication and collaboration of large documents and even less complex fliers Zoho is robust.

Posted in Zoho | Tagged: , | 3 Comments »

Cloud Computing

Posted by thetechmanual on June

There is much talk about Cloud Computing on the internet this days. There also seems to be confusion as to exactly what it means. Though, there are many different definitions what is important is that it be practical and intuitive. My unassuming definition is simply the example of Gmail. It basically stores all your material online and all you need to work with your email is any computer or electronic device connected to the internet. You can even forget about organizational paradigms. Whatever email you want to find, simply do a quick key word search and your email will pop up. You simply don’t worry about storage much or about owning a computer, you simply need internet access.

Today I am going to walk you through a very practical, but great method to collaborate in any business even if you already have company email.

Google Documents

Google Documents gives you a great cloud computing desktop. Though it won’t replace a full on desktop suite like MS Office. It does give great benefits.

  • You can open and edit MS Word docs on any computer, even if the software is not installed.
  • You can work on Excel sheets.
  • You can also work on basic Power Point Files
  • The biggest point is Collaboration.

You can Collaborate with anyone. The reason you want to do this is because of the quickness that originals get duplicated and modified. This creates numerous outdated and conflicting copies of the original. Collaboration with Google Documents is a quick way to view, edit, distribute, and maintain one or more documents. Once you make a change it gets saved and the changes will be viewed next time someone else opens the document.

A Simple Metaphor

A metaphor would be to imagine a hard drive in the internet where you can put documents and spreadsheets in, which you can then edit directly from the net without having to download them. Since the document is online you can share it with only people you know and even allow some to edit the document.

Here’s a video to give you an overview.

So how do you use it? On your Gmail page, once you are logged in. Simply click on Documents near the top of the page. That’s it now you are in the Google Docs desktop. From there you can upload a file or simply create a new one to get started.

Quick Tip: If you receive an email with a document attachment there is an option in Gmail to transfer that doc attachment to Google Docs. Simply click on the link, it will then import it to your Google Documents.

Though this is a toned down experience of what Cloud Computing means it is a great example and glimpse of what is to come. For now I find it a very practical and useful method to collaborate with anyone.

Posted in Cloud Computing, Google Docs | Tagged: , , | Leave a Comment »