23things Assignment #6

What's not to like with Google.docs?

It provides Microsoft Office functionality - without the need to keep track of my data stick. In future, I'd have access to all my working files - wherever and whenever I needed them - from any computer with internet access, anywhere in the world. No longer would my work off site be held up because I require data from a file I neglected to download from the S-drive before heading for home. And for those who know me (and the several managers who have inherited my office when I've been moved on), the offering of 2048MB of data storage - for eternity!!!!! - is very seductive.

Many of my projects are long-term and entail extensive documentation (prose and numeric). I'd find the capacity to search by label or snippet extremely helpful to track down just what was recorded in a particular document.

Lately, I've been snagged to work on various wordsmithing projects - as part of a task group or committee. To have one single document for comment and edit would be a great timesaver - both for creation and retrieval. Something came up this week which would be an ideal opportunity to test Google.docs collaborative potential in real time: revision of one of the Library's administrative policies.

The down side? The necessity to import all my material to Google.docs - and to establish the new 'handles' of potential collaborators. Groupwise IDs are readily trackable. I've not yet stumbled on a comparable list of addresses for mail.google.com. And I'll be d****d if I'll try to maintain calendars on two different systems!

And a question for the 23things moderator. Google.docs offers a download of software which would automatically alert me to material new to my inbox. I've always understood that TPL's IT frowned on importing material to TPL PCs. Would IT allow for the installation of non-corporate software - because it offers tantalizing potential!