heading2A little while ago Google gave it's word processor an upgrade. I was pretty pleased with the upgrade, document conversion was much improved and this had always been an issue for me. There were some other big changes there was a new drawing tool and the code base had been cleaned up along with some interface changes among other things. The document conversion improvement sold me and I adjusted my preferences to create new documents in the new version. Google had set up use of the new features as an opt in which seemed odd to me at the time. Now I understand why. Just this evening I realized that while the document converter was much improved other features of the program LOST functionality. Most shockingly the feature that was "deproved" the most was the revision history and tracks changes functions. This shocks me because Google Doc's collaboration features were the wedge which Google could use to introduce Google Docs to businesses. Anyone who has gone through the hell of group "collaboration" using MS Word's Track Changes features knows what I am talking about. Track Changes in Word works fine when you are the only person editing the document. The problems occur when you need to work with others (which is often). Multiple version of the document get e-mailed back and forth to all parties and no one knows who has the "good" version of the document sitting in their inbox. Google promised a better way and for a while they delivered. Multiple collaborators could work in real time on the same document all the while following along with the changes made by themselves or other collaborators in a easy natural manner that just worked. More and more my advice to my users was to use Google Docs for any major collaborative project and when they did they loved it. Google Docs had a niche in the organization. No one was ditching MS Word but the value of Google Docs for group collaboration could not be denied. heading3This evening I was helping out one of our attorneys and our litigation director with an issue and I saw a way to use Google Docs as a workaround to a problem they were having. It was during this process that I realized how incomplete the new document editors features were. Google had complete ruined Google Docs usefulness as a collaboration tool.
Recent Announcements
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Cloud Computing From The Ground Up
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IMA Conference
I presented, along with Mike Forman (Netsuite VP Finance and Controller) at IMA (Institute of Management Accountants) conference today. Below is a breakdown of the presentation.
Session Code: GRT1
Tuesday, June 25, 2013
2:00 PM - 3:15 PM
Session Description:
Finance organizations face the demand for improved financial governance and increased transparency and reliability of data. The cloud is maturing rapidly as a mainstream choice for companies of all sizes for financial applications deployment, allowing better business flexibility, faster deployment, and sustainable costs of ownership. Mike Forman, VP Finance & Corporate Controller at NetSuite shared details and insights into how cloud ERP has transformed the way he manages reporting, audit and compliance cost effectively to support growth.
Session Level: Basic
Field of Study: Specialized Knowledge & Applications
Learning Objectives: After this session, attendees will be able to:
1. Identify how to improve controls and efficiently manage complexity of compliance with a cloud-based finance solution.
2. Evaluate the benefits of streamlined reporting, real time data, and faster financial close.
3. Analyze and rationalize potential concerns over data security, integrity, and availability with a cloud-based finance solution.
4. Compare the experiences of two other executives and their decision process to employ cloud ERP financials.
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Posted Jun 25, 2013, 9:50 PM by John David Felt
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Preach On David Linthicum
Preach On David Linthicum
The problem I have with this is the same problem we have with small
healthcare providers. Why is confidential information safe on equipment
that is typically not well protected inside an office with old locks,
versus storing that information on remote servers that have many
security policies and mechanisms in place?
While data that exists on a local device that you can see may give
you a warm, fuzzy feeling, the reality is that data can much more easily
walk out the door to your office than it can if it’s stored on a public
cloud service. If lawyers are, indeed, dealing with risk, perhaps they
just need to understand the technical case law here before they render a
verdict that cloud computing is less secure.
Exactly. ·-·-· |
Posted Mar 9, 2013, 12:05 PM by John David Felt
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Host Webpages on Google Drive
Host Webpages on Google DriveNeat trick, and it works. Check it out here. ·-·-· |
Posted Feb 8, 2013, 12:23 AM by John David Felt
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Advocacy Center Voting Hotline
Advocacy Center Voting HotlineThe Advocacy Center will be staffing a voting hotline today to assist Louisiana voters with disabilities as they go out and vote. Trained Advocacy Center staff are available to answer questions and assist with disability-related complaints until the polls close at 8 p.m. tonight. Call 1-800-960-7705 or email advocacycenter@advocacyla.org for help.
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Posted Nov 6, 2012, 4:56 AM by John David Felt
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Cool People I Know & The Cool Things They've Been Doing
Cool People I Know & The Cool Things They've Been DoingIt's been a long time since I've had time to attend to my social media accounts (buried in work,) but I finally did some catching up today.
It's always amazing checking back in to Twitter or Google+ and discovering the cool projects that people I know have been working on. Since I last checked into Twitter/G+, two friends have published new mobile applications and a group of friends made a film. Sol:Sun ClockAlec Vance ( +Alec Vance on G+ and @juggleware on twitter) has put out Sol: Sun Clock. It's a really nifty app that keeps track of sunrise/sunset ,solstice, equinox, and more based on your location. You can also add alarms based on that information. It's a great concept and very well implemented. I just purchased it from the app store and have already set some alarms and detoured to wikipedia to learn the difference between nautical twilight and civil twilight as well as to learn what the golden hour is. Fun and educational. Pick it up at the app store.
BarNotesI met Peter Bodenheimer ( +Peter Bodenheimer on G+ & @pbodenheimer on twitter) at a kickball game (Go Tonics!) and then ran into him again at last years BarCamp New Orleans. Peter's a really friendly and interesting guy- a serial entrepreneur (co-founder of LaunchPad Ignition, partner at Flat Stack) and all around go-getter. Now he's released a cool mobile application BarNotes. It's a social application for discovering new cocktails. Really nicely done and free. I will be adding my recipe for champagne cocktails shortly...
You can learn more about it at the BarNotes site or pick it up at the app store. 48Hour Film FestivalMy sister in law Margaret is one of the coolest people I have ever met. She and a bunch of friends have been participating in the 48 Hour Film festival for the last two years. I went to the Prytania theater last Thursday and saw their recent entry Where's Keith. It was awesome as was their entry last year The Four Winds.
Pretty impressive stuff. With all of the above productivity going on around me I though the least I could do it to put up a blog post ;-) ·-·-· |
Posted Aug 21, 2012, 9:04 AM by John David Felt
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