Use Google Documents for Surveys

Google is always creating new products and new features for existing products. It has just released a new feature for Google Documents that allows you to create a form, using Google spreadsheet, and send it by email to your chosen target group. They won’t need to sign in, and they can respond directly from the email message or from an automatically generated web page.

All responses are then added to to your spreadsheet and you can manipulate the responses as you would any spreadsheet.

Google has even created a Google Docs forms gadget, which you can add to your iGoogle homepage, that allows you to create forms quickly and also helps you keep a close eye on your responses.

This might save you some time if you are surveying a large group of people by email and it is free as well.

Diarmuid

Office Alternatives update

Things go much faster on the web and this can be clearly seen in some recent developments regarding alternatives to Microsoft Office.

Google has added to its Google Documents portfolio, by adding Google Presentations to the mix. It now offers free alternatives to word, Excel and Powerpoint. All it needs is a gmail account.

IBM Have entered the field and are offering a free office suite, called Lotus Symphony. The package includes a word processor, a spreadsheet program and a presentation builder.

Adobe have entered into the fray and have purchased the very impressive looking Buzzword. Once again it’s free to use.

What’s Microsoft doing in the face of all this activity? Its answer is to make Microsoft Works free to download. This hasn’t happened yet, but is this enough of a response from the current leaders in this area?

Diarmuid

Take to the sky with Google Earth

Google’s mapping project, Google Earth has been updated and comes with a few new tricks up its sleeve.

Google Earth now allows you to ‘view heavenly objects, including stars, constellations, galaxies, planets and the Earth’s moon.’ Once you have gone to your chosen place on Earth click View & Switch to Sky and you will then be able to see what the sky would look like if you were actually there.

For those who would like a more interactive experience with the sky Google have now included a flight simulator into Google Earth. Make sure that the central map panel is active and press Control + ALT + A or Control + A (reports vary) and you will be able pick your choice of plane. You can currently choose between 2, an F16 or an SR22. The default airport is Kathmandu, but other airports are available.

Have Fun,

Diarmuid

Google Software Pack

Google is no longer happy just to find the answers to any question that you might have. It now has interests in video, photos, blogging, 3d Modelling, geography and email. To help people it also offers a free software pack which in their words is to help you ‘Get the most out of your PC’.

The pack gathers some of the usual suspects in free software, such as Adobe Reader, Google Earth and skype, but also includes a fully functional Microsoft Office alternative in StarOffice.

Most of these you can find freely available on the web, but its nice to have them all collected together in one place. Google recommends that you have broadband if you are going to install starOffice.

Diarmuid