Legal Tech: Google's updated cloud-based collaboration

By Peter LaSorsa Google recently rewrote its browser-based word processing and spreadsheet software. There isn’t much difference on the outward appearance but the internal changes are significant and worth mentioning. The new changes include allowing documents imported from Microsoft Word to retain their layout, and a new ruler for adjusting margins. But the real change is in the collaborative editing. Under the old version, a 15-second delay was the norm for two or more people working on the same spreadsheet or document. With the new version, changes are instantaneous. On the down side, Google’s new applications do not allow work while offline. This will only affect people sitting on airplanes or in some remote location where Internet access is not available. To digress, cloud computing is Internet based computing, where shared resources, software and information are provided to computers and other devices on-demand. In other words, the word processing or spreadsheet software does not reside on the individual computer. One big advantage of cloud computing is that people with three or four computers don’t have to purchase the same software for all three or four computers. And with cloud computing you have the ability to work on documents no matter what computer you have in front of you as long as you can connect to the Internet. For those attorney’s who have a need to collaborate on documents with multiple people in various locations, the new revised Google docs and spreadsheet are worth a try.  This link will answer any additional questions and get you started.