Google Docs

Google acquired word processing and spreadsheet technology from other companies. They then integrated these apps into a suite. Recently the suite has been rewritten to focus on collaboration functionality. The collaboration works in real time. Two people can work on the same document at the same time. The changes are merged instantaneously.

The entire application suite is called Google Apps. The key apps for word processing, spreadsheets, and presentation is called Google Docs. The new versions ensure that Microsoft Word documents keep their formatting when opened in Google’s app. The Google spreadsheet functionality does not have all the features of Microsoft Excel. Power users are expected to stick with Excel. This might be the pattern of the future. Power users keep Microsoft Office.

One drawback with the new versions from Google is that you must be connected to the net for them to run. There are reportedly 25 million Google app accounts out there. The costs are $50 per year for each user. Microsoft will need to provide an online option in Office 2010 to stay relevant.

Big Payout

Yesterday I posted a new entry on my Micro ISV blog about iPhone development. It had been a long time since I had any posts there. Then a wonderful thing happened. There were a lot of clicks on that blog.

I have AdSense enabled on the blog. Here is the weird thing. Today I only got 3 page impressions from my Micro ISV blog. Since I display 3 ads per page of the blog, 3 impressions means there was only 1 view of the actual blog. However that generated a monster 8 clicks.

Most of the time I get image ads displayed on my Micro ISV blog. The image takes up the whole ad. So that makes it next to impossible to generate 8 clicks from 3 ads. Normally when you click on an ad, it takes your browser to the page that sponsored the ad. Somebody must have purposefully visited my blog, and clicked each of the links to open in a new window. This is very strange.

I am not complaining too much. The 8 clicks netted me an $8.64 profit for the day. Now if only I can keep that up. Perhaps the clicks came because my blog post entry was original. Or maybe I wrote the latest entry in a manner that made people want to click the ads. The most likely reason is that this was a fluke. Let's see how I do tomorrow.