Post by leunas on Aug 20, 2006 2:29:24 GMT -5
Last Thursday, Google re-opened the online word processing application "Writely" which was acquired March of this year. Writely is now able to accept documents because the service has been transitioned to Google servers.
Users have remained ambivalent about Writely though, given that Google IS one of the major search engines today, translating to concerns regarding document security. A lot of people are even pondering about what exactly they'll be using this program for.
For the benefit of those who are not familiar with Writely, here are some of the things that you can do with the application, and some details on how it differs from your standard word processing applications:
- offers document authoring and sharing through the use of advanced scripting and AJAX,
- collaborates and works with people on the same document at the same time,
- downloads documents in batches (in HTML format),
- or saves them individually in PDF, RTF, ODT or Word format,
- keeps your documents online, making it easier for you to edit them wherever you are, and,
- has an automatic data backup every ten seconds which safeguards your document from crashes and power blackouts.
Google emphasizes that security should not be a problem because Writely allows you to choose the people who can see your documents via email invites. Then, they will be sent a password which will let them access your document. However, you can also allow a group of people to access or edit your document by adding them as collaborators.
So no, your document cannot simply be accessed if random people search for something and hit a tag in your document. If only they had this back when I was in still in the university...
www.qj.net/Google-Re-opens-Writely/pg/49/aid/62469
