1 00:00:00,320 --> 00:00:02,880 Speaker 1: Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve camera. 2 00:00:03,200 --> 00:00:08,920 Speaker 1: It's ready. Are you get in touch with technologies with 3 00:00:09,080 --> 00:00:17,599 Speaker 1: tech stuff from how stuff works dot com. Hello everyone, 4 00:00:17,640 --> 00:00:20,160 Speaker 1: and welcome again to tech stuff. My name is Chris Poulette, 5 00:00:20,200 --> 00:00:22,120 Speaker 1: and I am the tech editor here at how stuff 6 00:00:22,120 --> 00:00:24,880 Speaker 1: works dot Com. Sitting across from me, as he often 7 00:00:24,920 --> 00:00:27,520 Speaker 1: does on these occasions when I have to speak into 8 00:00:27,520 --> 00:00:33,040 Speaker 1: this microphone is senior writer Jonathan Strickland. How do y'all nice? 9 00:00:33,600 --> 00:00:37,760 Speaker 1: And um? We are going to talk today about being productive, 10 00:00:38,040 --> 00:00:40,440 Speaker 1: something we know a lot about here at how stuff 11 00:00:40,440 --> 00:00:45,599 Speaker 1: works dot com. We produce lots of things blogs, podcasts, articles, bs, 12 00:00:46,040 --> 00:00:49,080 Speaker 1: you name it, we produce it, But we don't tend 13 00:00:49,159 --> 00:00:52,559 Speaker 1: to use online productivity software, which is really what we 14 00:00:52,600 --> 00:00:55,800 Speaker 1: wanted to talk about today. In fact, we have to 15 00:00:55,840 --> 00:00:58,960 Speaker 1: thank our guest producer, Tyler. We call him guest producer 16 00:00:58,960 --> 00:01:01,680 Speaker 1: because you never know who going to produce our shows. Uh. 17 00:01:01,720 --> 00:01:03,360 Speaker 1: He's the one who actually came up with the title 18 00:01:03,400 --> 00:01:07,000 Speaker 1: for this one about online productivity software? How can I 19 00:01:07,040 --> 00:01:09,959 Speaker 1: be productive online? Well, there are a lot of companies 20 00:01:10,000 --> 00:01:12,600 Speaker 1: out there that have provided tools to do that, and 21 00:01:12,720 --> 00:01:17,080 Speaker 1: it's really marking a a shift in computing back in uh, 22 00:01:17,240 --> 00:01:19,679 Speaker 1: you know, the traditional route would be to have this 23 00:01:19,800 --> 00:01:23,680 Speaker 1: kind of software natively on your machine and you would 24 00:01:23,760 --> 00:01:26,240 Speaker 1: use it there and save all your work there. We're 25 00:01:26,240 --> 00:01:29,000 Speaker 1: starting to see all that shift over to the cloud, 26 00:01:29,640 --> 00:01:34,080 Speaker 1: and so it's it's one of those applications cloud computing applications. 27 00:01:34,080 --> 00:01:36,800 Speaker 1: It's really easy to point to and say, hey, this 28 00:01:36,880 --> 00:01:40,520 Speaker 1: is what we mean when we talk about cloud computing. Yes. Uh, 29 00:01:40,640 --> 00:01:42,920 Speaker 1: if you're not familiar with the term cloud computing, you 30 00:01:42,959 --> 00:01:45,880 Speaker 1: probably haven't been listening to our podcasts very often, because 31 00:01:45,920 --> 00:01:49,600 Speaker 1: we talk about it quite frequently. Um. Cloud computing is 32 00:01:49,760 --> 00:01:53,080 Speaker 1: uh sort of a relatively new thing that's really gone 33 00:01:53,080 --> 00:01:55,680 Speaker 1: on over the past few years, or at least not 34 00:01:56,240 --> 00:02:01,400 Speaker 1: new outright, I would say adopted more often uh than 35 00:02:01,440 --> 00:02:04,040 Speaker 1: it had been in the past, because it's been made 36 00:02:04,040 --> 00:02:08,120 Speaker 1: popular by high speed internet connections. Rather than using your 37 00:02:08,160 --> 00:02:12,359 Speaker 1: computer's hard drive to store applications and files, um, this 38 00:02:12,440 --> 00:02:15,800 Speaker 1: can all be done now on a server in some location, 39 00:02:16,000 --> 00:02:19,480 Speaker 1: in fact, often frequently backed up. So there are many 40 00:02:19,560 --> 00:02:22,200 Speaker 1: many copies of the applications and files that you would 41 00:02:22,200 --> 00:02:24,639 Speaker 1: normally keep on your hard drive out there in what 42 00:02:24,680 --> 00:02:27,720 Speaker 1: they call the cloud, and you probably make use of 43 00:02:27,760 --> 00:02:30,560 Speaker 1: some of these sort of applications already, things like email. 44 00:02:30,600 --> 00:02:33,040 Speaker 1: There are a lot of web based email applications out there. 45 00:02:33,080 --> 00:02:36,440 Speaker 1: We're talking about things like Hotmail, Yahoo, Gmail. In a way, 46 00:02:36,520 --> 00:02:38,679 Speaker 1: you can think of those as cloud computing because those 47 00:02:38,720 --> 00:02:42,480 Speaker 1: messages are uh they live, if you will, on a 48 00:02:42,520 --> 00:02:44,919 Speaker 1: server that could be hundreds or thousands of miles away 49 00:02:44,919 --> 00:02:48,600 Speaker 1: from you. Uh, but you're able to access them through 50 00:02:48,720 --> 00:02:51,519 Speaker 1: a browser. So the browsers acting as your user interface, 51 00:02:51,919 --> 00:02:54,959 Speaker 1: but you're really tapping into messages that are quite a 52 00:02:55,160 --> 00:02:58,600 Speaker 1: quite a ways away. Yes. Um, and that's the funny 53 00:02:58,639 --> 00:03:00,640 Speaker 1: thing about the productivity soft where that we're going to 54 00:03:00,680 --> 00:03:04,600 Speaker 1: talk about in just a moment here. Um. Unlike email 55 00:03:04,840 --> 00:03:10,840 Speaker 1: and services like dropbox, box, dot net, um, those that 56 00:03:10,840 --> 00:03:14,880 Speaker 1: that serve as a cloud storage device. Um. This is 57 00:03:14,960 --> 00:03:16,679 Speaker 1: this is the kind of thing that that you're going 58 00:03:16,720 --> 00:03:20,000 Speaker 1: to notice a lot more easily because, um, rather than 59 00:03:20,040 --> 00:03:22,600 Speaker 1: opening up an icon on your desktop, you're gonna go 60 00:03:22,760 --> 00:03:27,280 Speaker 1: and do everything really through your web browser. UM. So 61 00:03:27,639 --> 00:03:31,040 Speaker 1: where you uh, whereas you might do your word you know, 62 00:03:31,200 --> 00:03:34,400 Speaker 1: we're processing in a separate program from the program that 63 00:03:34,400 --> 00:03:36,680 Speaker 1: you would use for your spreadsheets. Now you're just doing 64 00:03:36,720 --> 00:03:41,200 Speaker 1: everything in Internet Explorer or Mozilla Firefox or Google Chrome. 65 00:03:41,920 --> 00:03:45,800 Speaker 1: Um in some cases safari. Yeah, if you're the poor, 66 00:03:45,840 --> 00:03:51,680 Speaker 1: unfortunate Sari Safari hater. Um. So, uh so let's get started. 67 00:03:51,680 --> 00:03:54,520 Speaker 1: How did how did all of this really take off? 68 00:03:54,560 --> 00:03:57,160 Speaker 1: I mean, it's it's it's not something that just happened 69 00:03:57,200 --> 00:04:00,440 Speaker 1: with the dawn of the new decade. No. No, Let's well, 70 00:04:00,480 --> 00:04:04,080 Speaker 1: first of all, you gotta look at traditional productivity software. 71 00:04:04,120 --> 00:04:07,200 Speaker 1: When we're talking productivity software, we're talking about a specific 72 00:04:07,280 --> 00:04:12,400 Speaker 1: kind of UM suite of applications that people, usually within 73 00:04:12,640 --> 00:04:17,239 Speaker 1: office environments, rely upon on a daily basis. So things 74 00:04:17,320 --> 00:04:23,600 Speaker 1: like document word processing programs, spreadsheet programs, presentation programs, uh, 75 00:04:23,680 --> 00:04:27,159 Speaker 1: sometimes some other like file management systems, things like that. 76 00:04:27,160 --> 00:04:29,920 Speaker 1: That's really what we're looking at here. And uh and 77 00:04:30,080 --> 00:04:33,000 Speaker 1: as we said before, most of the time, back in 78 00:04:33,080 --> 00:04:37,360 Speaker 1: the you know, the late eighties, early nineties, these were 79 00:04:37,440 --> 00:04:40,680 Speaker 1: programs that existed on your computer. Everything existed there. If 80 00:04:40,720 --> 00:04:44,240 Speaker 1: you wanted to send someone something from your computer, you 81 00:04:44,360 --> 00:04:47,599 Speaker 1: essentially created a copy of it and send it to them. 82 00:04:47,720 --> 00:04:50,719 Speaker 1: So uh, then that you would have two copies of 83 00:04:50,720 --> 00:04:52,800 Speaker 1: the same document out That's going to be important later 84 00:04:52,839 --> 00:04:56,800 Speaker 1: on when we get into collaboration. UM. But that's kind 85 00:04:56,800 --> 00:05:00,880 Speaker 1: of the model that that everyone was used to. Cloud 86 00:05:00,880 --> 00:05:05,599 Speaker 1: computing moves all of these over into the cloud. These 87 00:05:05,640 --> 00:05:09,080 Speaker 1: these applications, like Chris said, are hosted on on other machines, 88 00:05:09,480 --> 00:05:12,040 Speaker 1: and you can access these applications through your browser. In 89 00:05:12,080 --> 00:05:15,440 Speaker 1: some cases, you may also have to download and install 90 00:05:16,040 --> 00:05:19,760 Speaker 1: a tool on your desktop to um to be able 91 00:05:19,800 --> 00:05:22,880 Speaker 1: to access and interface with these these applications. Not all 92 00:05:22,920 --> 00:05:26,560 Speaker 1: of them are solely cloud computing applications. Some of them 93 00:05:26,560 --> 00:05:31,280 Speaker 1: are kind of hybrids. Uh, But in general, everything you 94 00:05:31,400 --> 00:05:35,080 Speaker 1: access and save and uh and and rely upon is 95 00:05:35,080 --> 00:05:37,520 Speaker 1: going to be on other machines that you can tap 96 00:05:37,560 --> 00:05:41,000 Speaker 1: into at any time. How it came about is well, 97 00:05:41,040 --> 00:05:44,680 Speaker 1: it's kind of a gradual evolution. Really, one of the earliest, 98 00:05:44,760 --> 00:05:47,920 Speaker 1: I would say, Uh. You can argue that there were 99 00:05:47,960 --> 00:05:50,080 Speaker 1: tons of different ones that they came out before this, 100 00:05:50,560 --> 00:05:52,680 Speaker 1: but one of the ones that was that really kind 101 00:05:52,680 --> 00:05:56,080 Speaker 1: of made a big splash as far as online productivity 102 00:05:56,120 --> 00:06:00,000 Speaker 1: software goes. It was Google Docs and Spreadsheets, which eventually 103 00:06:00,080 --> 00:06:03,359 Speaker 1: just became Google Docs. Now, part of that is just 104 00:06:03,400 --> 00:06:05,560 Speaker 1: because it had the name Google behind it. Anything that 105 00:06:05,560 --> 00:06:08,320 Speaker 1: has the name Google behind it has a certain amount 106 00:06:08,440 --> 00:06:12,000 Speaker 1: of momentum already because I mean, it's an enormous company, 107 00:06:12,320 --> 00:06:15,560 Speaker 1: right right. Another part is that Google did what it 108 00:06:15,600 --> 00:06:18,359 Speaker 1: does really well, and that they look out for other 109 00:06:19,360 --> 00:06:22,040 Speaker 1: other applications, other companies out there to do something really 110 00:06:22,040 --> 00:06:23,680 Speaker 1: well that they want to do, and then they go 111 00:06:23,760 --> 00:06:27,200 Speaker 1: out and buy them. Yes. So I know there are 112 00:06:27,200 --> 00:06:30,000 Speaker 1: a lot of other companies that that did the whole 113 00:06:30,040 --> 00:06:34,760 Speaker 1: cloud online productivity software stuff before Google did, but most 114 00:06:34,800 --> 00:06:38,080 Speaker 1: of those got bought by Google or or ended up 115 00:06:38,120 --> 00:06:41,120 Speaker 1: dying out because of Google, and and in some cases 116 00:06:41,560 --> 00:06:45,800 Speaker 1: were bought out by competitors. UM. The one that that 117 00:06:45,920 --> 00:06:50,880 Speaker 1: really I think kicked it off for Google was rightly UM, 118 00:06:50,960 --> 00:06:56,760 Speaker 1: which was an acclaimed word processor online only word processor 119 00:06:57,160 --> 00:07:00,720 Speaker 1: UM and at the time, which was I would say 120 00:07:00,839 --> 00:07:05,440 Speaker 1: in the mid nineties, probably around ninety Uh well, now 121 00:07:05,480 --> 00:07:08,479 Speaker 1: I'm sorry, mid two thousand's, early two thousand's UM. When 122 00:07:08,480 --> 00:07:11,840 Speaker 1: it first came out, I apologized for that. UM. You know, 123 00:07:11,840 --> 00:07:13,520 Speaker 1: people were talking about this because it was it was 124 00:07:13,560 --> 00:07:18,080 Speaker 1: sort of a new concept. People were really entrenched with, uh, 125 00:07:18,200 --> 00:07:22,720 Speaker 1: the Microsoft Office Suite, and this was this did online 126 00:07:23,240 --> 00:07:26,559 Speaker 1: cloud word processing very very well. It was an awesome tool. 127 00:07:27,040 --> 00:07:29,760 Speaker 1: And then Google acquired it and people were talking about 128 00:07:29,960 --> 00:07:32,440 Speaker 1: what Google was going to do with it. Well, it 129 00:07:32,480 --> 00:07:35,800 Speaker 1: wasn't long after that that they added the spreadsheet application 130 00:07:35,880 --> 00:07:38,280 Speaker 1: to make it. Uh you know, they started calling it 131 00:07:38,560 --> 00:07:42,960 Speaker 1: as the media will a Microsoft Office killer, right, which 132 00:07:43,240 --> 00:07:46,280 Speaker 1: uh you may have noticed that Microsoft Office has not 133 00:07:46,400 --> 00:07:50,080 Speaker 1: been killed yet, despite um, despite some legal setbacks which 134 00:07:50,080 --> 00:07:51,679 Speaker 1: I guess we can talk about in the minute too, 135 00:07:51,720 --> 00:07:54,640 Speaker 1: because we may see more of a focus put toward 136 00:07:54,800 --> 00:08:00,400 Speaker 1: online productivity software simply because of some some legal issues 137 00:08:00,440 --> 00:08:03,720 Speaker 1: that Microsoft is currently facing with the whole words situation. 138 00:08:04,360 --> 00:08:07,760 Speaker 1: But I can get into that a little bit later. Um. Yeah, 139 00:08:07,800 --> 00:08:10,160 Speaker 1: that's a good point. And it also was what changed 140 00:08:10,240 --> 00:08:13,440 Speaker 1: Google Docs to Google Docs and spreadsheets that people started 141 00:08:13,480 --> 00:08:16,960 Speaker 1: calling it Google docs and spreadsheets. I do have a 142 00:08:17,000 --> 00:08:20,800 Speaker 1: spreadsheet that includes many small dogs. Some of them are 143 00:08:21,000 --> 00:08:24,160 Speaker 1: dogsins they are long dogs, so they are small get along, 144 00:08:24,200 --> 00:08:27,360 Speaker 1: little doggie, that's right there, Yes, so anyway, yes, the 145 00:08:27,360 --> 00:08:30,960 Speaker 1: weener dogs. But uh, and eventually Google dropped the spreadsheets 146 00:08:30,960 --> 00:08:33,680 Speaker 1: bits announced just Google Docs, even though it does contain 147 00:08:34,160 --> 00:08:37,960 Speaker 1: applications for both not just both, I'm sorry, applications for 148 00:08:38,080 --> 00:08:42,400 Speaker 1: word processing, spreadsheets and presentations. Well, they acquired other companies 149 00:08:42,440 --> 00:08:45,600 Speaker 1: to to uh, to fill out the portfolio, and it's 150 00:08:45,679 --> 00:08:49,400 Speaker 1: right including uh you know, Zenter and Tonic Systems UM. 151 00:08:49,480 --> 00:08:51,960 Speaker 1: And really, when you think about it, when you look 152 00:08:52,480 --> 00:08:55,280 Speaker 1: back up and look at the whole Google Docs picture, 153 00:08:55,600 --> 00:08:59,319 Speaker 1: they really have everything you will need to to uh 154 00:08:59,360 --> 00:09:01,640 Speaker 1: you know, the business tools that you need because they've 155 00:09:01,679 --> 00:09:05,240 Speaker 1: got Gmail for email, You've got your calendar, you've got 156 00:09:05,520 --> 00:09:11,520 Speaker 1: word processing presentation software. Uh, you've got um your spreadsheets. 157 00:09:11,520 --> 00:09:14,480 Speaker 1: You've also got other tools to like Google Wave. So 158 00:09:14,600 --> 00:09:16,920 Speaker 1: it really does all these different pieces, some of which 159 00:09:16,960 --> 00:09:20,240 Speaker 1: were acquired, some of which were built in house. You know, 160 00:09:21,120 --> 00:09:25,120 Speaker 1: they're very helpful to work with people collaboratively, and that's 161 00:09:25,160 --> 00:09:27,440 Speaker 1: one of the unique things that Google brings to the 162 00:09:27,440 --> 00:09:30,000 Speaker 1: table is the collaboration aspect. Right, well, it used to 163 00:09:30,000 --> 00:09:32,360 Speaker 1: be unique. I would argue that there are a lot 164 00:09:32,440 --> 00:09:35,120 Speaker 1: of other online productivity software suites out there now that 165 00:09:35,200 --> 00:09:39,920 Speaker 1: are building their entire marketing strategy behind the collaborative, collaborative 166 00:09:40,000 --> 00:09:44,480 Speaker 1: nature of online computing. UM. So, when we're talking about collaborative, 167 00:09:45,240 --> 00:09:47,480 Speaker 1: like I said before, when you were working on a 168 00:09:48,000 --> 00:09:52,160 Speaker 1: document that was on a native word processing application on 169 00:09:52,200 --> 00:09:54,560 Speaker 1: your computer and you wanted someone else to look at it, 170 00:09:54,679 --> 00:09:56,760 Speaker 1: you know, you might send them in an email or whatever, 171 00:09:56,800 --> 00:09:59,360 Speaker 1: but they would get a copy of your document. The 172 00:09:59,400 --> 00:10:02,280 Speaker 1: original would still sit on your computer. Now, what if 173 00:10:02,320 --> 00:10:05,200 Speaker 1: that person were to look at that document, make changes, 174 00:10:05,440 --> 00:10:07,240 Speaker 1: and then send it back to you. Well, there are 175 00:10:07,240 --> 00:10:09,680 Speaker 1: a couple of different ways you could incorporate those changes 176 00:10:09,760 --> 00:10:13,200 Speaker 1: within your own document. You could just accept the new 177 00:10:13,240 --> 00:10:16,440 Speaker 1: document as the new master and you get rid of 178 00:10:16,480 --> 00:10:19,120 Speaker 1: the old one. You could compare the two and then 179 00:10:19,360 --> 00:10:23,200 Speaker 1: make changes on a change by change basis. But it 180 00:10:23,320 --> 00:10:25,320 Speaker 1: was just kind of a clunky way of handling it, 181 00:10:25,440 --> 00:10:28,960 Speaker 1: especially if you were doing a collaborative effort with multiple people. 182 00:10:29,160 --> 00:10:31,720 Speaker 1: Now you're not. Now you're looking at four or five 183 00:10:31,760 --> 00:10:35,040 Speaker 1: different versions of the same document circulating out there, and 184 00:10:35,040 --> 00:10:37,560 Speaker 1: then maybe coming back totally changed from what you started with. 185 00:10:37,600 --> 00:10:40,760 Speaker 1: And then then it gets really kind of complex. Well, 186 00:10:40,800 --> 00:10:43,400 Speaker 1: the nice thing about Google Docs and some other online 187 00:10:43,400 --> 00:10:48,040 Speaker 1: productivity software out there, Uh I mean Office Live? Does this? Um? 188 00:10:48,200 --> 00:10:51,680 Speaker 1: Microsoft Office Live? Yes, Microsoft Office Live. So Microsoft is 189 00:10:51,720 --> 00:10:55,640 Speaker 1: in this game too, folks. Zoho does this? Think Free 190 00:10:55,679 --> 00:10:58,760 Speaker 1: does this? There are a lot of different online productivity 191 00:10:58,760 --> 00:11:01,840 Speaker 1: software suites that allow line collaboration. Well, in this case, 192 00:11:01,880 --> 00:11:05,680 Speaker 1: everyone's working from the same master document. It exists on 193 00:11:06,200 --> 00:11:08,880 Speaker 1: the in in a certain account, and and the person 194 00:11:08,880 --> 00:11:11,920 Speaker 1: who owns that account, who created that document, can designate 195 00:11:12,000 --> 00:11:15,080 Speaker 1: who and who cannot um who can and who cannot 196 00:11:15,240 --> 00:11:18,200 Speaker 1: access that document, And in some cases you might have 197 00:11:18,320 --> 00:11:20,840 Speaker 1: multiple levels of access. It might be these people can 198 00:11:20,840 --> 00:11:23,520 Speaker 1: read the document, but they can't make any changes, or 199 00:11:23,679 --> 00:11:26,880 Speaker 1: these people can make changes, but they can't invite anyone else, 200 00:11:27,160 --> 00:11:29,000 Speaker 1: And then you might ultimately get to Okay, well, this 201 00:11:29,080 --> 00:11:32,559 Speaker 1: person can make changes, can approve changes, and can also 202 00:11:32,640 --> 00:11:36,439 Speaker 1: invite new people to participate within the collaboration. So when 203 00:11:36,440 --> 00:11:38,400 Speaker 1: you do this, when people make the changes, it goes 204 00:11:38,440 --> 00:11:41,560 Speaker 1: to the master document. Everyone can see the changes, and 205 00:11:41,720 --> 00:11:44,600 Speaker 1: um most of them have a way of being able 206 00:11:44,640 --> 00:11:47,800 Speaker 1: to review over time what changes have been made. Google 207 00:11:47,840 --> 00:11:51,000 Speaker 1: docs in particular makes this pretty easy where you can, uh, 208 00:11:51,040 --> 00:11:52,520 Speaker 1: you know, if you get to if you if you 209 00:11:52,640 --> 00:11:54,960 Speaker 1: created a document and then five other people have been 210 00:11:55,000 --> 00:11:56,520 Speaker 1: working on it and you haven't looked at it in 211 00:11:56,600 --> 00:11:59,040 Speaker 1: a couple of days, it can get really confusing when 212 00:11:59,080 --> 00:12:01,160 Speaker 1: you're looking at like, okay, well who made what change? 213 00:12:01,240 --> 00:12:04,480 Speaker 1: When did it happen? Um? Do I really that one 214 00:12:04,559 --> 00:12:06,880 Speaker 1: paragraph I liked is gone? Now? Do I want to 215 00:12:06,880 --> 00:12:08,600 Speaker 1: try and bring it back? If I do? You know 216 00:12:08,640 --> 00:12:11,000 Speaker 1: when did it go away? You can actually review the 217 00:12:11,440 --> 00:12:14,920 Speaker 1: series of changes and see where that happened and UH 218 00:12:14,960 --> 00:12:17,400 Speaker 1: and decide whether or not it makes sense to reincorporate 219 00:12:17,440 --> 00:12:20,680 Speaker 1: that text. And one of the neat things UH that 220 00:12:20,800 --> 00:12:24,640 Speaker 1: Google added to its Google Docs that made a few 221 00:12:24,679 --> 00:12:27,559 Speaker 1: headlines when when they did was the ability to work 222 00:12:27,600 --> 00:12:29,199 Speaker 1: on from more than one person to work on the 223 00:12:29,240 --> 00:12:32,280 Speaker 1: same document at the same time, and Google Docs would 224 00:12:32,280 --> 00:12:35,199 Speaker 1: be able to keep track of what was going on 225 00:12:36,040 --> 00:12:38,640 Speaker 1: UH in both instances, so rather than having to lock 226 00:12:38,720 --> 00:12:41,240 Speaker 1: someone else out, say okay, well Bob needs to work 227 00:12:41,240 --> 00:12:43,400 Speaker 1: on this, Bob's checked it out. No one else can 228 00:12:43,440 --> 00:12:45,640 Speaker 1: touch it until Bob checks it back into the to 229 00:12:45,720 --> 00:12:49,079 Speaker 1: the system UM, which is a nice way of handling it. 230 00:12:49,360 --> 00:12:51,800 Speaker 1: But this is even more elegant because it can it 231 00:12:51,840 --> 00:12:55,400 Speaker 1: can identify what each person does to the document, and 232 00:12:55,480 --> 00:12:59,720 Speaker 1: therefore no one's losing anything. And you know, the stuff 233 00:12:59,760 --> 00:13:01,760 Speaker 1: that you just spent half an hour on doesn't get 234 00:13:01,800 --> 00:13:05,960 Speaker 1: over written simply because the system can't handle multiple people 235 00:13:05,960 --> 00:13:07,800 Speaker 1: making changes to it at the same time, which is 236 00:13:08,120 --> 00:13:12,600 Speaker 1: very very nice. Another issue you may think about when 237 00:13:12,960 --> 00:13:17,240 Speaker 1: when we're talking about online productivity software is what happens 238 00:13:17,400 --> 00:13:21,440 Speaker 1: if you don't have an Internet connection, So they're gonna 239 00:13:21,440 --> 00:13:24,520 Speaker 1: be times where that happens where you're not gonna have access. 240 00:13:24,559 --> 00:13:26,680 Speaker 1: Maybe you're on a flight that doesn't have WiFi yet, 241 00:13:27,200 --> 00:13:30,160 Speaker 1: or maybe you're just in an area of you know, 242 00:13:30,320 --> 00:13:34,240 Speaker 1: town where you have no access, or maybe the truck 243 00:13:34,400 --> 00:13:37,600 Speaker 1: down the street hit the fiber optic connection and there 244 00:13:37,600 --> 00:13:40,200 Speaker 1: it goes. Maybe your neighbors finally got wise and actually 245 00:13:40,240 --> 00:13:44,120 Speaker 1: put a password on their WiFi. I'm just saying it happens. 246 00:13:44,880 --> 00:13:49,800 Speaker 1: So what do you do then? Do you just say, oh, well, 247 00:13:49,840 --> 00:13:51,280 Speaker 1: I guess I have to wait till I get back 248 00:13:51,280 --> 00:13:53,080 Speaker 1: in the office before I can work on this. Well, 249 00:13:53,600 --> 00:13:58,560 Speaker 1: most of these these solutions have incorporated some form of 250 00:13:59,440 --> 00:14:02,480 Speaker 1: synchronous nation software where you can work on a document 251 00:14:02,559 --> 00:14:05,600 Speaker 1: offline and you can make changes to it, you can 252 00:14:05,640 --> 00:14:08,640 Speaker 1: save it, and then when you reconnect to the internet, 253 00:14:09,120 --> 00:14:14,760 Speaker 1: it will automatically incorporate those changes within the document online. Now, 254 00:14:14,800 --> 00:14:17,560 Speaker 1: of course, this could also cause some issues because what 255 00:14:17,600 --> 00:14:19,640 Speaker 1: if you have multiple people working offline and then they 256 00:14:19,720 --> 00:14:23,040 Speaker 1: all reconnect and um, I think ultimately you have to 257 00:14:23,120 --> 00:14:27,200 Speaker 1: have some sort of document management hierarchy in place, where 258 00:14:27,280 --> 00:14:30,240 Speaker 1: perhaps the person who created the document ultimately makes the 259 00:14:30,280 --> 00:14:32,560 Speaker 1: decision of which changes go in and which ones don't 260 00:14:33,040 --> 00:14:35,040 Speaker 1: because then it gets a little complex if you were 261 00:14:35,080 --> 00:14:37,360 Speaker 1: to have maybe four or five people working on something now, 262 00:14:37,520 --> 00:14:40,680 Speaker 1: and that I don't think that necessarily happens that often. 263 00:14:41,280 --> 00:14:43,560 Speaker 1: Perhaps you have a group of consultants working on a project, 264 00:14:43,720 --> 00:14:47,200 Speaker 1: or maybe you've got several reporters all working on say 265 00:14:47,200 --> 00:14:51,000 Speaker 1: a school paper, working on it within Google Docs. Perhaps 266 00:14:51,080 --> 00:14:54,760 Speaker 1: then I could see where that might cause problems, But 267 00:14:54,800 --> 00:14:58,200 Speaker 1: in most cases, you're that's gonna be kept to a minimum. 268 00:14:58,280 --> 00:15:00,560 Speaker 1: And like I said, it's Google Docs did this with 269 00:15:00,760 --> 00:15:04,080 Speaker 1: Google Gears. That was their their Google Labs thing where 270 00:15:04,400 --> 00:15:07,680 Speaker 1: you could actually access a lot of functionality on Google 271 00:15:08,280 --> 00:15:12,600 Speaker 1: um within their productivity suite, just even if you weren't connected. 272 00:15:13,000 --> 00:15:16,080 Speaker 1: But other ones do it to Office Live has their version, uh, 273 00:15:16,360 --> 00:15:19,480 Speaker 1: you know in Zoho. And so everyone's kind of come 274 00:15:19,560 --> 00:15:22,400 Speaker 1: up with their own solution to this problem so that 275 00:15:22,480 --> 00:15:24,840 Speaker 1: you know, you don't feel like, well, if I lose Internet, 276 00:15:24,920 --> 00:15:26,960 Speaker 1: does that mean I lose my ability to work on 277 00:15:27,000 --> 00:15:32,280 Speaker 1: whatever I was working on? Yeah, it's true enough. So, um, 278 00:15:32,360 --> 00:15:34,840 Speaker 1: there are lots and lots of things you can do. 279 00:15:34,880 --> 00:15:38,360 Speaker 1: I mean the uh, I think I can think of 280 00:15:38,400 --> 00:15:44,320 Speaker 1: four or five in particular, whole suites of applications, most 281 00:15:44,360 --> 00:15:47,360 Speaker 1: of them managed by big companies like of course there's 282 00:15:47,360 --> 00:15:50,640 Speaker 1: Google Docs, there's Microsoft Office Live. UM. That Another one 283 00:15:50,760 --> 00:15:53,160 Speaker 1: we talked about just now we haven't really gotten into 284 00:15:53,200 --> 00:15:55,920 Speaker 1: in depth was Zoho, which is independent and they have 285 00:15:55,960 --> 00:15:59,840 Speaker 1: an amazing array of online productivity software. Yes, yes, it's 286 00:15:59,840 --> 00:16:03,840 Speaker 1: all kinds of tools, notebook, contact Manager, UM, all kinds 287 00:16:03,840 --> 00:16:09,640 Speaker 1: of business group application which actually groups the most common 288 00:16:09,640 --> 00:16:14,560 Speaker 1: applications together into a single user interface. UH. And they 289 00:16:14,720 --> 00:16:19,200 Speaker 1: have plans on eventually allowing third party applications to UM. 290 00:16:19,640 --> 00:16:22,400 Speaker 1: Third parties to submit applications to their to their business 291 00:16:22,400 --> 00:16:26,000 Speaker 1: groups application, so that let's say that, you know, you 292 00:16:26,000 --> 00:16:30,160 Speaker 1: could really use a special kind of of newsreader that 293 00:16:30,320 --> 00:16:34,440 Speaker 1: isn't in this and it's almost like replacing your desktop. UM. Now, 294 00:16:34,480 --> 00:16:36,960 Speaker 1: as far as I can tell, they haven't implemented any 295 00:16:37,000 --> 00:16:39,400 Speaker 1: third party apps yet, but it's something that's in the 296 00:16:39,440 --> 00:16:44,040 Speaker 1: plans UM. And it's the nice thing about Zoho. And actually, 297 00:16:44,040 --> 00:16:47,560 Speaker 1: for most of these online productivity software solutions, it's free 298 00:16:47,560 --> 00:16:49,680 Speaker 1: for people to use if they're using it on an 299 00:16:49,680 --> 00:16:53,720 Speaker 1: individual basis. It's only when you get into organizations like 300 00:16:53,800 --> 00:16:57,040 Speaker 1: companies or you know, nonprofit organizations or whatever that you 301 00:16:57,080 --> 00:17:00,320 Speaker 1: have to start looking at a subscription policy. And then 302 00:17:00,680 --> 00:17:02,320 Speaker 1: that's when Zoho was like, all right, well, if you're 303 00:17:02,320 --> 00:17:04,920 Speaker 1: gonna use it as an enterprise thing, then you're gonna 304 00:17:04,920 --> 00:17:08,040 Speaker 1: need to to pay a certain fee per year to 305 00:17:08,080 --> 00:17:10,639 Speaker 1: access all of this and uh and then you know, 306 00:17:10,720 --> 00:17:14,600 Speaker 1: you might get some extra little perks that that the 307 00:17:14,640 --> 00:17:19,840 Speaker 1: free users don't necessarily have access to. Yeah, yeah, I think, um, 308 00:17:19,840 --> 00:17:23,000 Speaker 1: sort of digressing for a second. I feel like this 309 00:17:23,080 --> 00:17:25,840 Speaker 1: is this kind of software they have, the product basic 310 00:17:25,880 --> 00:17:28,879 Speaker 1: productivity software is this is just something that people expect 311 00:17:29,000 --> 00:17:33,280 Speaker 1: to see now as part of their uh, their computer suite. 312 00:17:33,320 --> 00:17:35,080 Speaker 1: You know, you have your operating system, you have email, 313 00:17:35,119 --> 00:17:37,399 Speaker 1: you have the web browser, and you have something that 314 00:17:37,440 --> 00:17:40,159 Speaker 1: will let you write a letter to somebody and you 315 00:17:40,200 --> 00:17:44,119 Speaker 1: know do some basic, uh basic productivity type work. And 316 00:17:44,160 --> 00:17:47,120 Speaker 1: I think that's why these these programs are coming down. 317 00:17:47,520 --> 00:17:50,320 Speaker 1: You know, it's possible. You know, Microsoft is also offering 318 00:17:51,119 --> 00:17:54,440 Speaker 1: less expensive like a home version of Office now where 319 00:17:54,480 --> 00:17:57,440 Speaker 1: it hadn't before, which you had to to fork over 320 00:17:57,680 --> 00:17:59,639 Speaker 1: quite a bit of cash before if you wanted a 321 00:18:00,040 --> 00:18:03,480 Speaker 1: whole office suite, right, And we we should point out 322 00:18:03,520 --> 00:18:09,240 Speaker 1: also that in general, these online applications tend to be 323 00:18:09,400 --> 00:18:12,080 Speaker 1: a little. They don't have all the features and bells 324 00:18:12,080 --> 00:18:15,400 Speaker 1: and whistles that you'll find in a desktop application. Not 325 00:18:15,400 --> 00:18:17,760 Speaker 1: not really, not all of them. I mean you'll like, like, 326 00:18:18,640 --> 00:18:20,199 Speaker 1: if you were to go back to your desk and 327 00:18:20,280 --> 00:18:24,000 Speaker 1: open up Microsoft Word on your desk, you would have 328 00:18:24,040 --> 00:18:27,679 Speaker 1: access to way more functions that you're gonna get than 329 00:18:27,800 --> 00:18:31,200 Speaker 1: if you access the online version. Now that doesn't necessarily 330 00:18:31,200 --> 00:18:34,080 Speaker 1: mean these are vital functions. They may be functions that 331 00:18:34,160 --> 00:18:37,800 Speaker 1: you never use. Uh, maybe that all the the ones 332 00:18:37,880 --> 00:18:40,680 Speaker 1: that you have come to depend upon are fully covered 333 00:18:40,720 --> 00:18:43,480 Speaker 1: within the online version. But if you're a power user, 334 00:18:43,520 --> 00:18:47,040 Speaker 1: if you're someone who's using like those really obscure functions 335 00:18:47,080 --> 00:18:50,560 Speaker 1: that no one else in the world ever uses, then 336 00:18:50,680 --> 00:18:55,480 Speaker 1: moving to an online software uh kind of uh environment 337 00:18:55,560 --> 00:18:59,040 Speaker 1: may not be the best choice. Um, But I mean 338 00:18:59,520 --> 00:19:03,240 Speaker 1: that whole the whole thing is improving anyway on online. 339 00:19:03,240 --> 00:19:05,920 Speaker 1: I mean you're you're seeing like these suites get more 340 00:19:05,920 --> 00:19:07,960 Speaker 1: and more functionality as time goes on, and we would 341 00:19:07,960 --> 00:19:11,120 Speaker 1: expect to see that so uh. And again, I think 342 00:19:11,160 --> 00:19:12,960 Speaker 1: a lot of these companies are really starting to put 343 00:19:13,000 --> 00:19:15,800 Speaker 1: their weight behind on their online presence and kind of 344 00:19:15,840 --> 00:19:19,640 Speaker 1: take the focus away from the hardware stuff because look 345 00:19:19,680 --> 00:19:22,600 Speaker 1: at what's selling. You've got netbooks, they're selling really well, 346 00:19:23,040 --> 00:19:25,200 Speaker 1: and now you've got smart books coming out. These are 347 00:19:25,280 --> 00:19:29,920 Speaker 1: devices that are not necessarily capable of running these um 348 00:19:30,040 --> 00:19:35,360 Speaker 1: these uh, these applications natively like, especially things for presentations 349 00:19:35,400 --> 00:19:38,520 Speaker 1: that can take up a lot of memory depending on 350 00:19:38,560 --> 00:19:40,840 Speaker 1: how complex it is. But by putting it on the web, 351 00:19:41,000 --> 00:19:43,600 Speaker 1: suddenly you don't need a powerful machine to build these 352 00:19:43,680 --> 00:19:46,000 Speaker 1: these presentations because it's doing all the work for you, 353 00:19:46,160 --> 00:19:47,840 Speaker 1: and you don't need to hard drive space in order 354 00:19:47,880 --> 00:19:50,240 Speaker 1: to host the applications either. Yeah, that's a good point. 355 00:19:50,240 --> 00:19:52,760 Speaker 1: Google Docs, for an example, gives you a gigabyte of 356 00:19:52,840 --> 00:19:55,240 Speaker 1: free storage. In fact, they've opened it up now where 357 00:19:55,280 --> 00:19:56,919 Speaker 1: you can if you have a Google Docs account, you 358 00:19:56,920 --> 00:19:58,720 Speaker 1: have a gigabyte of free storage that you can put 359 00:19:59,080 --> 00:20:01,880 Speaker 1: anything in. It doesn't have to be a Google doc 360 00:20:02,320 --> 00:20:05,639 Speaker 1: to or you know, spreadsheet or presentation or whatever for 361 00:20:05,680 --> 00:20:08,240 Speaker 1: it to go into their now. Granted, uh it can't. 362 00:20:08,280 --> 00:20:10,920 Speaker 1: Each individual file has to be two or fifty megabytes 363 00:20:11,000 --> 00:20:13,760 Speaker 1: or smaller. But you can put up to a gigabyte 364 00:20:13,960 --> 00:20:16,920 Speaker 1: for free in there, and if you want more, then 365 00:20:17,080 --> 00:20:20,560 Speaker 1: you can purchase more gigabytes for about a quarter a 366 00:20:20,600 --> 00:20:24,280 Speaker 1: gigabyte per year. It was. We took a look and 367 00:20:24,320 --> 00:20:27,800 Speaker 1: it was five dollars for twenty gigabytes for a full year. 368 00:20:28,200 --> 00:20:32,120 Speaker 1: Five bucks, five dollars. You've got twenty gigabytes of online storage. 369 00:20:33,080 --> 00:20:36,760 Speaker 1: Office Live they give you five gigabytes a storage with 370 00:20:36,840 --> 00:20:39,639 Speaker 1: an Office Live account, so which you know, it's just 371 00:20:39,680 --> 00:20:42,239 Speaker 1: like having any other kind of live account. Um, so 372 00:20:42,280 --> 00:20:46,520 Speaker 1: that's free to sign that up to. So there's online 373 00:20:46,520 --> 00:20:48,400 Speaker 1: storage has gotten to the point where you're you're essentially 374 00:20:48,400 --> 00:20:52,440 Speaker 1: the message they're sending is storage is cheap. It is cheap. 375 00:20:52,560 --> 00:20:54,840 Speaker 1: Now you have to worry about how secure it is 376 00:20:54,920 --> 00:20:58,239 Speaker 1: and how accessible it is because if something happens with 377 00:20:58,359 --> 00:21:02,000 Speaker 1: either of those services, like if you're a Microsoft customer 378 00:21:02,000 --> 00:21:03,920 Speaker 1: and they have a problem with their servers, you may 379 00:21:03,920 --> 00:21:05,919 Speaker 1: not be able to access your files, just like if 380 00:21:05,960 --> 00:21:08,359 Speaker 1: you were a Google customer. That's happened a couple of 381 00:21:08,359 --> 00:21:10,920 Speaker 1: times in the past year where Google services kind of 382 00:21:11,080 --> 00:21:14,440 Speaker 1: took a little dive briefly and people freaked out because 383 00:21:14,440 --> 00:21:17,479 Speaker 1: they couldn't access their Gmail or Google docs. Um well, 384 00:21:17,520 --> 00:21:21,119 Speaker 1: there are machines, and machines break and they are vulnerable 385 00:21:21,160 --> 00:21:25,240 Speaker 1: to hacking attacks. Now, in general, these companies put a 386 00:21:25,320 --> 00:21:29,000 Speaker 1: lot of money into keeping their their applications secure and 387 00:21:29,040 --> 00:21:32,080 Speaker 1: the data secure. But at the same time they're also 388 00:21:32,280 --> 00:21:36,320 Speaker 1: huge targets, so they may be more secure than your 389 00:21:36,440 --> 00:21:39,680 Speaker 1: native company. Let's say that your native company has got 390 00:21:40,000 --> 00:21:43,120 Speaker 1: you know, maybe a hundred fifty employees total, and so 391 00:21:43,200 --> 00:21:45,639 Speaker 1: that's a much smaller company than something like Microsoft or 392 00:21:45,680 --> 00:21:50,240 Speaker 1: Google orders a magnitude smaller UH. And so let's say 393 00:21:50,240 --> 00:21:54,480 Speaker 1: that your company's security isn't anywhere near Google's security or 394 00:21:54,560 --> 00:21:57,479 Speaker 1: Microsoft security. But at the same time, you're under the radar. 395 00:21:58,160 --> 00:21:59,720 Speaker 1: You know, you're not going to be a huge target 396 00:21:59,760 --> 00:22:02,840 Speaker 1: for ackers like Microsoft or Google. So that's something that 397 00:22:03,119 --> 00:22:06,760 Speaker 1: companies and individuals have to take into consideration. Um we 398 00:22:07,000 --> 00:22:12,880 Speaker 1: recently saw an issue where in another country people had 399 00:22:12,960 --> 00:22:17,720 Speaker 1: their information compromised because hackers attacked Google. And in this case, 400 00:22:17,760 --> 00:22:21,399 Speaker 1: it was just account information. It wasn't specific things like 401 00:22:21,480 --> 00:22:25,240 Speaker 1: documents or or emails. But I mean that's something to 402 00:22:25,320 --> 00:22:29,600 Speaker 1: keep in mind whenever you're moving to an online model. Yeah, 403 00:22:29,760 --> 00:22:31,720 Speaker 1: m I was gonna mention to some of the other 404 00:22:32,400 --> 00:22:37,080 Speaker 1: UH productivity software out there. One that's really neat and 405 00:22:37,119 --> 00:22:42,240 Speaker 1: another UH that came from an acquisition um is and 406 00:22:42,280 --> 00:22:46,359 Speaker 1: it's kind of under the radar. Two is Adobe's suite, which, 407 00:22:47,119 --> 00:22:49,119 Speaker 1: as far as I could tell, started with the acquisition 408 00:22:49,160 --> 00:22:52,720 Speaker 1: of Buzzword, which was a flash based UM word processing 409 00:22:52,720 --> 00:22:56,920 Speaker 1: programming absolutely beautiful. UM here again, this is an example 410 00:22:57,000 --> 00:22:59,760 Speaker 1: of a program that's sort of limited in features. When 411 00:22:59,760 --> 00:23:03,280 Speaker 1: they first acquired Adobe didn't have a whole lot of features. 412 00:23:03,320 --> 00:23:05,119 Speaker 1: You you were limited to what you could do with it. 413 00:23:05,160 --> 00:23:07,959 Speaker 1: But it was absolutely fantastic to look at, and I 414 00:23:08,000 --> 00:23:10,320 Speaker 1: went back to look for the do you know, for 415 00:23:10,359 --> 00:23:13,760 Speaker 1: the purposes of research and um they've added at tables 416 00:23:13,880 --> 00:23:17,679 Speaker 1: program and a presentations program and uh the ability to 417 00:23:17,800 --> 00:23:22,040 Speaker 1: create PDFs without having to own a copy of Acrobrat Pro, 418 00:23:22,200 --> 00:23:24,800 Speaker 1: which is very nice. But there are other bits and 419 00:23:24,840 --> 00:23:28,720 Speaker 1: pieces out there companies who offer productivity software that is 420 00:23:28,760 --> 00:23:32,400 Speaker 1: an entire suite. UM. Coming to mind off the top 421 00:23:32,400 --> 00:23:34,640 Speaker 1: of my head was thirty seven Signals. UH if you've 422 00:23:34,640 --> 00:23:37,760 Speaker 1: ever heard of base camp, the project management software. They 423 00:23:37,800 --> 00:23:41,920 Speaker 1: also have a client tracker called high Rise Backpack, which 424 00:23:41,960 --> 00:23:46,080 Speaker 1: is uh you know, helps you organize and coordinate projects 425 00:23:46,080 --> 00:23:49,720 Speaker 1: with other people, and um Campfire, which allows you to 426 00:23:49,760 --> 00:23:52,200 Speaker 1: chat with other people that you work with. This these 427 00:23:52,200 --> 00:23:55,840 Speaker 1: are really useful for uh uh startups and small companies 428 00:23:55,880 --> 00:23:58,760 Speaker 1: that are, you know, using the Internet to work with 429 00:23:58,760 --> 00:24:01,080 Speaker 1: one another. You know people who say a who meet 430 00:24:01,160 --> 00:24:03,920 Speaker 1: at a conference, for example, and one of them lives 431 00:24:03,920 --> 00:24:06,119 Speaker 1: in San Francisco, the other in New York. They can 432 00:24:06,200 --> 00:24:10,240 Speaker 1: use tools like this to share documents back and forth. UM, 433 00:24:10,359 --> 00:24:13,520 Speaker 1: very very highly regarded. UM. You know, and there are 434 00:24:13,520 --> 00:24:17,560 Speaker 1: others you know I work dot com as Apple's um 435 00:24:17,600 --> 00:24:20,760 Speaker 1: sort of shadowy, not really shadowy, that means public knowledge 436 00:24:20,800 --> 00:24:23,119 Speaker 1: that it's out there, but people are speculating that I 437 00:24:23,200 --> 00:24:25,119 Speaker 1: work will be more than just a way to share 438 00:24:25,840 --> 00:24:29,920 Speaker 1: I work documents between different people in the future. They've 439 00:24:29,920 --> 00:24:34,840 Speaker 1: been ramping up on the UH Data center space, so 440 00:24:34,880 --> 00:24:38,040 Speaker 1: there's speculations that that Apple might get into this space 441 00:24:38,080 --> 00:24:40,440 Speaker 1: as well. UM and all kinds of other stuff. It's 442 00:24:40,440 --> 00:24:43,000 Speaker 1: a lot of photo editing software and videos and software 443 00:24:43,040 --> 00:24:46,240 Speaker 1: out there that's also online and UM, I was gonna 444 00:24:46,240 --> 00:24:47,800 Speaker 1: mention very briefly, I think this would be a good 445 00:24:47,840 --> 00:24:50,280 Speaker 1: way to close that. Chris and I have worked a 446 00:24:50,359 --> 00:24:53,600 Speaker 1: little bit on a Google Wave which in a way 447 00:24:53,840 --> 00:24:56,919 Speaker 1: you can kind of seeing Wave being an attempt to 448 00:24:57,000 --> 00:24:59,960 Speaker 1: create what will be the next generation of collaborative soft 449 00:25:00,119 --> 00:25:04,240 Speaker 1: where where you can build documents, you can have an 450 00:25:04,240 --> 00:25:08,200 Speaker 1: instant message, conversation between two people, you can uh kind 451 00:25:08,200 --> 00:25:10,439 Speaker 1: of sort of email. It sort of does all of 452 00:25:10,480 --> 00:25:12,920 Speaker 1: these things all in one. The problem is, right now 453 00:25:13,040 --> 00:25:16,480 Speaker 1: it's still in preview mode. It's not even in beta. Um, 454 00:25:16,520 --> 00:25:18,800 Speaker 1: and I agree with it that it shouldn't be in 455 00:25:18,880 --> 00:25:21,760 Speaker 1: beta yet because it's there's just not enough functionality there 456 00:25:22,280 --> 00:25:26,480 Speaker 1: right now. Disappear without noticing. Yeah, well it's it's it's 457 00:25:26,480 --> 00:25:29,320 Speaker 1: more than just being buggy. It's just that there's not 458 00:25:29,440 --> 00:25:32,960 Speaker 1: enough focus yet. I think I think it's it's an 459 00:25:33,040 --> 00:25:36,400 Speaker 1: amazing tool that doesn't have enough focus. So right now 460 00:25:36,480 --> 00:25:40,240 Speaker 1: it's more confusing than useful. Most people when they get Wave, 461 00:25:40,400 --> 00:25:42,720 Speaker 1: the first thing they think is awesome, I've got Google Wave. 462 00:25:42,800 --> 00:25:44,680 Speaker 1: And the second thing they think is how the hell 463 00:25:44,720 --> 00:25:47,639 Speaker 1: am I supposed to use this thing? And then like 464 00:25:47,720 --> 00:25:49,800 Speaker 1: the third or fourth thing they think is, hey, don't 465 00:25:49,920 --> 00:25:53,119 Speaker 1: have a Google Wave account because because if you're you know, 466 00:25:53,200 --> 00:25:56,000 Speaker 1: it's it's so confusing to the average user that I 467 00:25:56,000 --> 00:25:59,320 Speaker 1: think most people quickly abandon it. But I think that 468 00:25:59,480 --> 00:26:02,080 Speaker 1: could be uh kind of a glimpse at what we 469 00:26:02,200 --> 00:26:07,000 Speaker 1: will see online collaborative software. I think this word's going 470 00:26:07,080 --> 00:26:09,639 Speaker 1: to be moving in the future. Yeah, I feel like 471 00:26:09,640 --> 00:26:11,320 Speaker 1: I'd be remiss because I just thought of this as 472 00:26:11,320 --> 00:26:14,679 Speaker 1: we were talking UM about a very unusual suite of 473 00:26:15,119 --> 00:26:18,840 Speaker 1: cloud computing software, because it's not the typical productivity software 474 00:26:18,880 --> 00:26:21,199 Speaker 1: that you would think of. But I was thinking of Aviary, right, 475 00:26:21,280 --> 00:26:25,960 Speaker 1: are you? It's a if you because UM, when you 476 00:26:26,000 --> 00:26:28,600 Speaker 1: were talking about how other there are other ways to 477 00:26:28,880 --> 00:26:33,760 Speaker 1: UH other types of image editing software. Aviary UM is 478 00:26:33,800 --> 00:26:37,400 Speaker 1: strictly where where Adobe offers a version of Photoshop online, 479 00:26:37,440 --> 00:26:42,560 Speaker 1: there's a cloud computing piece of software. Aviary is strictly UM. 480 00:26:42,640 --> 00:26:46,480 Speaker 1: For the creative types. UM. There's a color chooser, there 481 00:26:46,720 --> 00:26:50,440 Speaker 1: is a an image editor, a vector illustrator. UM. They've 482 00:26:50,480 --> 00:26:54,400 Speaker 1: even offered the beginning to offer UM a sound editing program, 483 00:26:54,480 --> 00:26:57,600 Speaker 1: very much like you might see UH in garage band, 484 00:26:57,720 --> 00:27:00,919 Speaker 1: where you can edit tracks UM. And it's free to 485 00:27:01,000 --> 00:27:04,600 Speaker 1: get started with it, but there are certain things that 486 00:27:04,720 --> 00:27:07,959 Speaker 1: become available to you. UM. The idea is it's sort 487 00:27:07,960 --> 00:27:10,040 Speaker 1: of a social media project too, because you can share 488 00:27:10,040 --> 00:27:12,560 Speaker 1: tracks with other people and images with other people. But 489 00:27:12,640 --> 00:27:14,720 Speaker 1: if you want to keep your stuff private, you have 490 00:27:14,800 --> 00:27:17,680 Speaker 1: to be a paid account holder. So and so it's 491 00:27:17,720 --> 00:27:21,439 Speaker 1: kind of different. Everything you create being immediately appropriated by 492 00:27:21,480 --> 00:27:24,760 Speaker 1: everybody else go ahead. But it's fantastic stuff though. I've 493 00:27:24,840 --> 00:27:26,640 Speaker 1: you know, I've played around with it some and you're going, 494 00:27:26,840 --> 00:27:28,359 Speaker 1: how do they make these tools available to you in 495 00:27:28,400 --> 00:27:31,080 Speaker 1: a web browser? Um? Yeah, it's pretty cool stuff. Well, 496 00:27:31,119 --> 00:27:34,160 Speaker 1: and we're seeing more and more a move towards having 497 00:27:34,200 --> 00:27:37,280 Speaker 1: a web browser based operating system. The Google Chromos is 498 00:27:37,280 --> 00:27:41,960 Speaker 1: going to be that. So clearly, these sorts of of 499 00:27:42,200 --> 00:27:45,040 Speaker 1: services will be necessary in order to make those those 500 00:27:45,119 --> 00:27:47,480 Speaker 1: machines that are running that kind of operating system a 501 00:27:47,600 --> 00:27:50,600 Speaker 1: useful machine. Otherwise you've just got, you know, a bunch 502 00:27:50,640 --> 00:27:53,480 Speaker 1: of chips that don't really do anything. Um. Well, I 503 00:27:53,520 --> 00:27:56,360 Speaker 1: think this was a really good conversation on productivity software. 504 00:27:56,359 --> 00:27:57,680 Speaker 1: I mean, again, it sounds like it's kind of a 505 00:27:57,760 --> 00:27:59,800 Speaker 1: dry topic, but this is for a lot of our 506 00:28:00,119 --> 00:28:02,720 Speaker 1: nurse you guys who are in in middle school and 507 00:28:02,760 --> 00:28:05,160 Speaker 1: high school in particular, this is the source of stuff 508 00:28:05,200 --> 00:28:07,080 Speaker 1: that's probably going to be affecting you as you enter 509 00:28:07,119 --> 00:28:10,320 Speaker 1: the workforce. A lot of these these software suites, um, 510 00:28:10,359 --> 00:28:12,280 Speaker 1: are probably gonna be things that that companies start to 511 00:28:12,320 --> 00:28:15,119 Speaker 1: rely on more heavily in the future, especially new companies. 512 00:28:15,359 --> 00:28:18,439 Speaker 1: Older companies tend to hang on to older software longer 513 00:28:18,520 --> 00:28:21,600 Speaker 1: because it's just they've got so much stuff invested in that. 514 00:28:22,200 --> 00:28:23,920 Speaker 1: But for newer companies, I think this is one of 515 00:28:23,960 --> 00:28:25,400 Speaker 1: those things we're gonna see a lot more of. We're 516 00:28:25,400 --> 00:28:29,040 Speaker 1: gonna see more people kind of move to this online approach, 517 00:28:29,200 --> 00:28:32,239 Speaker 1: So keep your eyes open, get a little familiar with them. 518 00:28:32,280 --> 00:28:35,080 Speaker 1: Most of them have the availability for you to have 519 00:28:35,119 --> 00:28:37,959 Speaker 1: a free account and uh or at least a trial. 520 00:28:38,120 --> 00:28:40,240 Speaker 1: Yeah you know that with limited features even for things 521 00:28:40,240 --> 00:28:43,680 Speaker 1: like study groups and stuff. I think it's really really handy. Um. 522 00:28:43,800 --> 00:28:45,760 Speaker 1: But yeah, take a look at it because this stuff 523 00:28:45,800 --> 00:28:49,240 Speaker 1: is this will be important later on. Trust me. I know. 524 00:28:50,120 --> 00:28:53,200 Speaker 1: I was in that world for seven years and then 525 00:28:53,280 --> 00:28:59,040 Speaker 1: I was free. So if any of you have any questions, comments, suggestions, 526 00:28:59,080 --> 00:29:02,400 Speaker 1: anything like that, send us an email or email address 527 00:29:02,480 --> 00:29:05,880 Speaker 1: is tech stuff at how stuff works dot com. Chris 528 00:29:05,920 --> 00:29:07,600 Speaker 1: and I are going to get a little productive here 529 00:29:07,640 --> 00:29:09,680 Speaker 1: and try and work on our next podcast, so we'll 530 00:29:09,680 --> 00:29:13,760 Speaker 1: talk to you again really soon. For more on this 531 00:29:13,880 --> 00:29:17,640 Speaker 1: and thousands of other topics, visit how stuff works dot com. 532 00:29:17,920 --> 00:29:20,000 Speaker 1: Let us know what you think. Send an email to 533 00:29:20,120 --> 00:29:26,719 Speaker 1: podcast at how stuff works dot com. Brought to you 534 00:29:26,720 --> 00:29:30,120 Speaker 1: by the Reinvented two thousand twelve camera. It's ready. Are 535 00:29:30,160 --> 00:29:30,400 Speaker 1: you