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Google Docs to support Powerpoint

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the more-executive-time-wasters dept.

KindredHyperion writes "Garett Rogers at ZDNet has an article on the prospect of a Powerpoint-esque addition to Google Docs and Spreadsheets. From the article: "If you dig around the language files in Google Docs, you will find what appears to be traces of a new service preparing for launch soon. Meet Google Presently — an online presentation creator that will likely read and write the most common formats like Microsoft PowerPoint and Open Office Impress.""

8 of 88 comments (clear)

  1. Re:What about opera users? by Anne_Nonymous · · Score: 4, Insightful

    >> How long do you think we will need to wait before they begin supporting it?

    W.A.G. of the day: The more mobile devices browse, the more mainstream Opera will become.

  2. Re:Is there anything Google doesn't do? by the_womble · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Google has done very little that will lock people into using them.

    Its not being big and having lots of users that is the problem. It is being able to reduce consumer choice that is the problem.

  3. Re:What about opera users? by DJCacophony · · Score: 3, Insightful

    How long do you think we will need to wait before they begin supporting it?

    Probably until it either gains majority market share or opens up it's source.

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    Slow Down, Cowboy! It's been 60 minutes since you last successfully posted a comment.
  4. visio would be VERY useful by WindBourne · · Score: 4, Insightful

    visio has no decent OSS version and none that will read its format. It would be useful if Google created even a web app of it and perhaps release a library for reading/writing the format.

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    I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
  5. Re:Going too far? by ElleyKitten · · Score: 2, Insightful

    A lot of people do have access to the internet almost all the time. I have internet at home, at work, and at my night classes. What I don't have is access to the same computer all day. With Google, I can make a document (or edit my calendar) and work on it where ever I am without worrying about carrying around thumb drives and forgetting them at home or running out of space, and I can even use a library or a friend's computer without having to make sure my preferred office suite is running on it. So Google works for me. It sounds like it doesn't work for you, which is fine, because I don't think offline office suites are dying anytime soon.

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    "What is Internet Explorer 7? Are you saying we can't access the normal internet?" - I love tech support. Really.
  6. Re:Damn..! by cp.tar · · Score: 2, Insightful

    At least I'll be able to open all the annoying .ppts I get in the mail without having to run OO.o on some ancient computer...

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    Ignore this signature. By order.
  7. Re:What about opera users? by jorgevillalobos · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Probably until it either gains majority market share or opens up it's source.

    That has nothing to do with it. If Google is excluding Opera users from one of their services, it's probably for one of the following reasons:

    • Opera hasn't implemented (or has bugs in) certain Javascript functions required by their service. This just means that Opera needs to expand (fix) its implementation.
    • There's some general policy in Google to support certain browsers and exclude all others to "play it safe". This is something that I've seen in a lot of corporate web software. The browser may very well support the app but there's a compatibility check the browser doesn't pass. The solution to this is changing the user-agent string, which I believe Opera can do easily.
    • Google is using non-standard features of IE and Firefox to implement their services. In this case your point about market share is correct since Google can't spend too much time to please a relatively small group of users.

    Being open source has absolutely nothing to do with this.

  8. Re:What about opera users? by rubycodez · · Score: 2, Insightful

    with 0.5% of browsers out there being Opera, I'd say your wait will be long indeed. No need for any company to even take the time to test with it.