The file viewer Google docs viewer is able to display numerous new document types in your browser, among them Adobe Photoshop- and Illustrator files.

You are confronted with the Google docs viewer when you use Gmail – when opening e-mail attachments that the browser cannot display on its own. With the update, the web application can now display twelve new file types, including Microsoft Excel spreadsheets (.xls and .xlsx) as well as PowerPoint 2007 and 2010 presentations (.pptx).

Apple Pages files can be rendered in your browser as well. Other new supported file formats are Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, Postscript and true type fonts. The list is completed with Autocad files (.dxf) and Scalable Vector Graphics (.svg).

The rendering is quite faithful. However, some browsers cannot directly copy selected texts to your clipboard. With Google Chrome and Firefox, this works using the Ctrl+C keyboard shortcut. The viewer itself is limited to correct rendering; you cannot edit the files.

Google docs viewer is available outside of Gmail as well, at docs.google.com/viewer. To view files with it, they must be available on the web (callable with http or https).

Combined with shared folders in Google Docs, the upload feature is a great way to collaborate on files with coworkers and external parties. Instead of using cumbersome email attachments, you can upload files to a folder and share it with coworkers, who can then access and edit the files from a single place. You can even have your sales team securely share contracts with external clients for review.

The new feature will roll out gradually over the coming weeks.  The uploaded files can be shared on a file or folder level with other users, just like the office documents created with Google Docs.  If you need more space than 1GB, Google will charge yearly $3.50 USD (3.00 EUR) per GB.

In my opinion, the Google Docs storage cannot compete with Windows Live SkyDrive’s 25GB nor with Dropbox’s 2GB.  What does Google eventually plan?

Syncing works the same way that Google docs is doing in your browser, except that DocVerse is enabling this right in Microsoft Office—via an add-in.  With DocVerse, worth about $25 million, Google will have a direct connection to Microsoft Office.  With Office 2010, Microsoft is aiming into the same direction.  DocVerse works seamlessly with Office 2010.

Does this bring up a new war between Microsoft and Google?

Cloud computing is currently a hyped phrase on the web.  Everybody plays with it and promises the moon.  In the end, it is about never having to install software anymore.  No problems with system crashes.  And your personal data aren’t stored on hard disks or USB sticks, but in the cloud.

Get more done on the Web

In the end, the ‘cloud’ is just the Internet.  There are tens of thousands of servers, and your data are stored somewhere on them.  In the cloud.  The idea by itself is great: Most of us are connected to the Web permanently anyways, so why not get everything working in the Internet, save your data there and launch programs from there?  That is the basic concept of cloud computing.  Get more done on the Web, less on your own computer.  That could make your home PC cheaper, as the real work is done by the Web instead.

Google Chrome OS

Google has just launched their own operating system for small computers, “netbooks”.  Chrome OS is free and is more or less just the browser, Google Chrome.  You can use it to go online—and that’s it.  You launch programs that are stored on the Web, and just do your whole work on the web.  Everything happens online.  Yet, Chrome OS cannot do everything that Windows can, but if you only want to accomplish certain tasks, such as writing letters, sending and receiving mail, surfing the Net or editing photos, you don’t need anything more—thus you can save money on hardware and software.

Writing letters on the Net

However, you don’t need a new operating system to participate at cloud computing.  Best example: Google docs & spreadsheets.  A free online text processor that cannot do everything that Microsoft Word can, but that is free.  Just enough for many things like writing letters or designing invitation cards.  You don’t have to install any software and you save your texts directly on the Net.  That’s cloud computing.

Editing photos on the Web

Even photo editing or graphics creation doesn’t require setting up software locally.  There are several web sites that can do the job nearly as good.  You can edit photos, optimize them, print them.  That’s also cloud computing.  There are many more examples.  If you are storing your photos at flickr or sharing your videos at YouTube, you are in fact using cloud computing.

Lots of advantages

Cloud computing is not necessarily completely new, only its name is relatively new—and most of us are already a part of it somehow.  There are many advantages.  You can access documents stored on the Web from anywhere, so you don’t have to take them with you.  And you can share them with work mates or friends easily—for example with Windows Live SkyDrive.  Collaboration is easy, even working on projects simultaneously.  And: you don’t have to install any software.

Concerned about your privacy?

What about your privacy?  Many people feel uncomfortable with storing everything on the Web—and that has its reasons.  Surely you can set up permissions and access rules, like who may view your photos or edit your texts.  But you cannot control it.  You should rather not store very private or sensitive data on the Web.  What might happen as well: You’re offline, there is no web connection.  You won’t be able to access your data.

Summarized: Cloud computing has its good and bad sides.  The solution: think about the advantages and disadvantages of storing specific data on your local disk—or, if they are not too private, easily on the Web.

More information

• Google Chrome OS
• Windows Azure
• Google docs & spreadsheets
• Snipshot—Edit pictures online
• flickr
• Windows Live SkyDrive