Google Docs has kept the functionality of the two products intact while adopting the simplified look-n-feel of Google Spreadsheets. The next logical step would be to merge some of the functionality of each application…adopt discussions in the document (ex-Writely) section and give the collaboration/publish functionality to spreadsheets. (yeah yeah, you can already collaborate with spreadsheets, but the collaboration is limited)

I’m excited to see what pans out with all of this. Oh, and as a side note, I see that Google has added a ‘Photos‘ link to the quick-nav at the top of Google Docs. Google is finally pushing Picasa…interesting.

I’m glad to see I’m not the only one complaining about the heat in ITS. Here’s Dee’s post on the topic.


Update: It has now reached 90 degrees. Oh god.

Update: It has now reached 91 degrees. Oh god.

Well, as I’ve been waiting for and S5 editor to come along, Thumbstack has come along instead and I’ll be content goofing around with that for a while. While Thumbstack isn’t built off of the S5 standard, it is a sold web implementation of presentation software complete with a decent draggable presentation builder…themable to boot! (although the available themes are dumb right now, that’s sure to improve). The editor is a div based-DHTML pumped-Ajax integrated layout; the presentation itself seems to be Flash. Interesting stuff.

It shows promise, but there are a few things it lacks that I hope to see:

• More themes
• Slide transitions and animations (nothing too crazy, basic will do fine)
• Export to Powerpoint
• Ctrl+S to save
• While viewing a presentation, right clicking should give a contextual menu.

I’ll be keeping an eye on Thumbstack. Google recently bought Writely, which means they are interested in web-based Office software. They’ve got Gmail, an upcoming Calendar, a Word Processor, and a Webpage Builder. All they need now are solid presentation and spreadsheet applications. The race is on.