 Google has quietly announced that it has acquired Writely, a tool that simply allows users to use HTML as the
standard for all document preparation (without having to learn HTML),
and to share, collaborate and publish such documents to whomever they
wish. In doing so, they have signaled that they understand the need to simplify desktop management the way they have simplified search,
by burying all the complexity of document management and document
transmission beneath a very simple meta-application. This is precisely
what I have repeatedly called for
to increase productivity of knowledge workers, encourage massively more
sharing of important information, enable real-time collaboration and,
most important, get the bulk of the 80% of the population still on the
far side of the digital divide online and onside.
What this
means is that computer users will really need only one application,
instead of the myriad they have now. Writely, or whatever Google
renames it when they enhance it, will not only be the only open app on their desktop, it will become their desktop. Whatever they need to do -- create, change or share a document (any
document), send a document/message (the two terms will become
indistinguishable) to someone, search for a document, or subscribe to
or publish or blog a document -- will be done within this one
application, simply and intuitively. If someone you work with or
communicate with still uses overengineered tools like Word, or has
migrated to OpenOffice, you don't need to know or care -- the tool will
automatically strip out the Microsoft gunk, convert the document to a
clean, ubiquitous, HTML format, and allow you to change it or work with
it as if you had prepared it yourself. Making photos, charts, mindmaps
or other inserts for the document will ideally be handled by plug-ins
-- if you and your collaborators use these tools you can plug them in,
and readers who don't have the plug-ins will simply see them as
'pictures' that they can't change. E-mailing, document sharing and
publishing ("read-only document sharing") will become synonymous
concepts. You'll never have to 'save' or back up a document again -- it
will all be done offsite for you automatically. If you think I'm
reading too much into this, just read the Writely FAQ. Simply brilliant.
The next great challenge for Google will be to simply the challenge of finding people
(know-who) the way they have already simplified the challenge of
finding information (know-what) and finding places (know-where). That
means whether you're looking for an expert, a supplier, a business
partner, a spouse, the Wisdom of Crowds, or a soul-mate, Google will
get you there in one click. I have no doubt they are up to this
challenge.
On the topic of Google, try out Google Web Comments and get an idea of what bloggers are saying about every page you visit (Firefox trackback plug-in). |
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