This is a partial response. Certainly Google docs is far from as fully feat=
ured as Word, but there are at least some features in some of the Google ap=
ps that are better than the desktop versions. For example, Google's spreads=
heet app is awesome, particularly the Forms function that enables creation =
of online questionnaires that feed results directly into your spreadsheet a=
nd the time series graphic tool that enables motion graphing of up to six v=
ariables simultaneously. Google Notebook is terrific for saving all manners=
of web data and IMHO, Sites comes close to, if not being the best, online =
wiki. iGoogle is very powerful and there is no desktop equivalent that come=
s close. Then there are the incomparable Google Earth and SketchUp. Agreed =
that docs does not compare well to word and presentations has a lot of impr=
oving to do to even equal other online apps of this type, but Google has a =
lot to offer that can't be beat, as I see it. The feature sets keep improvi=
ng regularly and many parts of the whole suite integrate with each other ex=
tremely well. I don't understand your problem with composing and reading em=
ail online. It's not like the old days when we were charged by the minute f=
or our time online, now it's unlimited. Actually, I'd rather write and read=
online and save the extra keystrokes. And now Google's moving to being abl=
e to work with the apps offline too. As the apps get better, this feature w=
ill emerge as really important too.
Don't want to start a flame war, this is just my 2 cents.
Jim Lerman
Kean University
-----Original Message-----
>From: Keith E Gatling <kgatling@MPH.NET>
>Sent: Jun 16, 2008 6:17 PM
>To: ISED-L@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU
>Subject: Re: Google for Education
>
>A lot of people here have been talking about how great the Google Apps are=
.
>They're free, they're platform independent, they use an open standard,
>they're great for collaboration, etc.
>
>But here's my question: how well do they compare to the apps people use in
>the "real world?" Yes, I know that Word and Excel aren't free, but for the
>money I pay, they have some features that I really like. Even back when
>Claris/Appleworks came bundled with Macs I still preferred Word because of
>the features that I had gotten used to having available to me. I tried the
>Google word processor for an hour or so and found it quite annoying compar=
ed
>to what I was used to.
>
>The other thing that bugs me, even as I'm writing this in Gmail, is how th=
e
>whole thing seems to depend on being actively online all the time. I
>remember loving Eudora as an email program because it only required you to
>be online to send and receive mail, not to read or compose it. As much as =
I
>love the fact that all my addresses and email follow me everywhere with
>Gmail, it still irks me that I have to be online to compose or read the ol=
d
>stuff (yes, I know about IMAP, but I'm not there yet, I'm still thinking i=
n
>the POP world).
>
>Same thing with the other Google apps, I don't like that I have to be onli=
ne
>to get any work done. I don't like the idea that if I'm somewhere without =
an
>Internet connection, I can't get any work done. Oh, I suppose it's great
>that the files are available to me anywhere, but it seems like a giant ste=
p
>backward to the days of Pine, VI, and other software that required you to =
be
>logged onto the host, and dependent on a conneection, in order to do your
>work.
>
>Does anyone else share my concerns here, or are there some huge advantages
>to being tethered to the Internet that I'm not aware of.
>
>--=20
>keg
>
>* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * =
*
>Keith E Gatling - Computer Instructor
>Manlius Pebble Hill School
>5300 Jamesville Rd
>DeWitt, NY 13214
>315.446.2452
>http://www.gatling.us/keith
>
>Some teachers teach subjects. Others teach students.
>* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * =
*
>
>[ For info on ISED-L see http://www.gds.org/ISED-L ]
>Submissions to ISED-L are released under a creative commons, attribution, =
non-commercial, share-alike license.
>RSS Feed, http://listserv.syr.edu/scripts/wa.exe?RSS&L=3DISED-L
[ For info on ISED-L see http://www.gds.org/ISED-L ]
Submissions to ISED-L are released under a creative commons, attribution, non-commercial, share-alike license.
RSS Feed, http://listserv.syr.edu/scripts/wa.exe?RSS&L=3DISED-L
