WEB SIGHTINGS ***** # 71016.

ROLCAM · Posted: Wed Oct 17, 2007 3:59 am Post subject: WEB SIGHTINGS ***** # 71016.

Web Sightings

Google Wants to Be Your Operating System

It has been spoken about for years now: Why should all the computers in the world have their own operating systems? Why shouldn't there be a central operating system,with associated applications online so that home and business computers can tap in?

Google may be on the verge of doing it.

Without fanfare, Google has begun offering three online applications that anyone can use free, at least for now. It's not a complete operating system, at least not yet.

You can go online and use Google's document program, spreadsheet program and presentation program. All three are compatible with comparable Microsoft programs. The work you create can be stored on Google's computers. And the most important aspect of this new way to create these files may be that you can allow anyone with Web access to see them and work with them, too.

There's nothing to download to use these programs. You can access your documents, spreadsheets and presentations from any computer with an Internet connection and a standard browser. Fears of hard drive failures and power outages at your home or workplace are no longer issues, since your work is stored off site and it's auto-saved so you can't lose it accidentally.

You can save your documents and spreadsheets to your own computer in DOC, XLS, CSV, ODT, PDF, RTF and HTML formats. Just as you do on your own computer, you can store and easily find your documents by organizing them into folders and drag and drop you documents into as many folders as you want.

To allow others to access your documents, you enter their e-mail addresses and send them an invitation. This allows multiple people to both view and make changes to the document at the same time. There's even an online chat window for spreadsheets and document revisions that allows you to see who changed what and when.

Do you want people around the world to see your presentation? It's easy because anyone who is joined in the presentation can automatically follow along with the presenter. It may be a new way to conduct worldwide business meetings online.

Google Docs is still relatively new, but it's certain that as more people use the online programs, users will find innovative ways of using these applications to save time and money.

So far, there are only three applications, but how long will it be before Google begins offering an entire online operating system to compete with Microsoft and perhaps even Apple? Some say it won't be long. Google is a huge company and has the resources to do just about anything it wants. And Google doesn't mind going head-to-head with Microsoft or any other company.

You can explore Google Docs by going to http://docs.google.com. Take time to read the documentation for the three programs and pay special attention to user feedback, which explains how these online programs are already being used.

You may just find that Google Docs are not only the wave of the future but a handy tool for today as well.

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If you like computer games, you'll love Fetchfido Free Online Flash, Shockwave and Java Games at http://www.fetchfido.co.uk/games/menu/games_menu.htm. Games include everything from air hockey, Asteroids and curveball to Pac-Man, Donkey Kong and 3D Pong. And all of them are rated safe for kids. But be careful. The site can be extremely addictive for inveterate gamers.

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Old time radio is on the Web and it's free at http://www.radiolovers.com. It's here you'll find hundreds of vintage radio shows in MP3 format for you to listen to or download. You'll find everything from great comedies such as Abbott and Costello to the big band music of Benny Goodman and the fantastic variety shows such as Arthur Godfrey and his Talent Scouts. It's a bit of nostalgia on today's cutting edge medium.

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"Africa Focus: Sights and Sounds of a Continent," is an amazing online extravaganza produced by the University of Wisconsin - Madison Libraries. The goal of the project is to give the public selections of images and sounds that have been contributed over the years to the African Studies Program of the University of Wisconsin - Madison. It's a combination of images captured on slides and in photographs with sound recordings that have been stored on digital files. You'll find this presentation at http://digicoll.library.wisc.edu/AfricaFocus.

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Roland Camilleri

Moderator

Sydney , Australia.