Software application development
This blog is intended to provoke discussion and exchange between like minded software application developers, engineers, architects, project managers - and keen hobbyists too.
Monday 28 July 2008, 2:32 PM
Google Apps: The Missing Manual
'It’s impossible to convey the look and feel of a 700-page text in a blog, but this book could be of some use to the reader who wants to go beyond Gmail and consider Google’s “suite” as a one of the viable alternatives to Microsoft Office. The problem for most people according to the book’s author Nancy Conner is that people don’t know how to ‘navigate’ their way around the various offerings, so she sets out to try and fix that.
There are plenty of, “oh, cool – I didn’t know that” things for even the casual reader. For example, did you know that you can set up your Gmail account so that messages sent to your other email accounts arrive in your Gmail inbox so that you can check all your email accounts in one place? I didn’t!
It has to be said that this book goes from the extremely simple to the rather more complex in fits and starts. One page she’ll be talking about cutting and pasting into Google chat, the next she’s talking about building web sites and the next she’s talking about application management and administration issues. I guess the publishers would defend this and say that the author is being, “comprehensive” – but it does make you question as to what level of reader the book is pitched at.
On the whole there are some really great TIPS and shortcuts in here, navigating between various replies in a Gmail message with P (for previous) and N (for next) for example – you are bound to find something that you like. I have to confess that it did get me finally using Google Documents and Calendar, so it must be pretty good.
If you like the sound of this volume, then it's easy to find on the web as is the rest of the ‘missing manual’ series. My wife is currently working through Your Brain: The Missing Manual and is threatening to perform psychoanalytical tests on me any day now. Watch this space.
PreviousComments on this post
nice one...I will be having a look myself.
Their were rumors some time ago, of a google operating system. Wish I'd
documented them now, but at the time it seemed that there would be
much talk about this, and now? Not a peep!
Thanks for your reply Roger,
It's a really nice book, but not as techie as the title suggests - so just watch for that.
If you read Rupert's Gmail blog you'll see that he uncovers some other interesting Gmail twists and some of those points are highlighted on the Amazon reviews page below:
http://www.amazon.com/Google-Apps-Missing-Nancy-Conner/dp/0596515790
Cheers - glad to see you're blogging so fervently. I've recently joined Twitter and am currently undecided about it. I have had quite a few 'followers', but are they just pretending to like me I wonder?
:-) Adrian
Thanks for the encouragement there Adrian. Just wish I had a bit more time for this! Been off for a little while, had the laptop in pieces after the HD failed (got six years out of it), pleased to see that a drive the same size has 3 times the capacity though.
Havn't looked at Twitter yet, I've been using my face book as a resource page, posting links and videos et al (feel free to pop by).
Initialy I went straight off facebook, believing it to show up our nation
as one with a serious alchohol problem! Now I find it useful for sharing a little of my self with the world, (I never put my real DOB on these sites, even though it remains hidden) and I also lay off the apps as they insist on access to personal info.
By the way, how did the award thing go? I popped over to the site
and cast a vote for you, after hearing about it from Karen.
Thanks again for your reply Roger - I think the "award" gets chosen at the end of the month!
