Google Docs and Spreadsheets - a new method of publishing on the Web

[Rocker]

Google has started a new service whereby anyone can upload a Word file or a spreadsheet (up to 0.5 Mb) and have it stored on Google's computers, instead of their own hard-drive. They also provide a facility for these files to be made available to anyone on the Web. Over the next few days I will be publishing various articles that I have had published in woodworking magazines over the years in this way. All that a would-be reader has to do is to open the requisite URL. The following four URLs, for example, contain the description of my morticing jig:
http://docs.google.com/View?docid=dgdcspjt_0cbnhgq
http://docs.google.com/View?docid=dgdcspjt_7f6s5z4
http://docs.google.com/View?docid=dgdcspjt_13d4ptvj
http://docs.google.com/View?docid=dgdcspjt_45dhdxmd

I think that this will be a useful way for members, who have put together material in publishable form, to distribute it to members who may be interested. But we need a dedicated forum to index the URLs. This method of distributing material seems much better than the current way, where interested people e-mail an author, who then has to send them a document as an e-mail attachment.

Rocker

[Daddles]

And who then owns the material? The reason so many people left Geocities was a change to the agreement to the effect that Geocities owned the rights to everything published on their sites. Now, your little article may not be worth much to you, but if Google decide that they own it (read the fine print) and find a way of using it, you may not have any comeback. This is NOT a copyright thing, this is a legal contract. Read the agreement and make sure it is not so.

Richard

[Rocker]

Daddles,

Thanks for the heads-up. I will have a look at the fine print.

Rocker

[silentC]

Google claims no ownership or control over any Content submitted, posted or displayed by you on or through Google services. You or a third party licensor, as appropriate, retain all patent, trademark and copyright to any Content you submit, post or display on or through Google services and you are responsible for protecting those rights, as appropriate. By submitting, posting or displaying Content on or through Google services which are intended to be available to the members of the public, you grant Google a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free license to reproduce, adapt, modify, publish and distribute such Content on Google services for the purpose of displaying, distributing and promoting Google services. Google reserves the right to syndicate Content submitted, posted or displayed by you on or through Google services and use that Content in connection with any service offered by Google. Google furthermore reserves the right to refuse to accept, post, display or transmit any Content in its sole discretion.

You represent and warrant that you have all the rights, power and authority necessary to grant the rights granted herein to any Content submitted.

[zenwood]

Ah, but isn't Google's motto 'Don't be evil?'. If they turn out to be evil, can't we sue them for false advertising?

[Rocker]

I have had another look at Google's Docs and Spreadsheets agreement. They say that they will assist in pursuing people who have violated copyright. They also say they reserve the right to use your material for promoting their own services, but I don't see that as a problem. Given the fact that I would not publish stuff on the web until after I had already benefitted from print publication, or else until I had decided not to bother attempting to make a profit from the material, I am happy to proceed with publishing material for the benefit of members in this way, so long as the Forum management is agreeable to setting up a dedicated forum to index web publications of this nature.

Rocker

[David L]

Rocker, if all the legalities and conditions are agreeable, that seems like an excellant way of distributing material and could eventually become a substancial store of readily acessable referance material.

As you say it would require a dedicated forum and indexing for it to work properly let's hope Niel gives it serious concideration.

David

[Auld Bassoon]

I wonder just how many petabytes of disk storage Google has allowed for this. I know that storage is pretty cheap today, but just two million folks uploading just one 500Kb document (easy with a pic or diagram or two in a Word document) is one terabyte. Google has, I believe, over 200 million unique searches per day (!) and some 59 million unique visitors per month.

All this only about a decade on from when the Internet became a public resource. All hail Vint Cerf I say :)

[zenwood]

Yep: an excellent idea, Rocker, which prompts me to wonder if Google's purchase of YouTube offers a repository for the forum videos for those without access or the inclination to use torrents.

[Rocker]

Zenwood,

Your's sounds like a good suggestion. I don't know enough about YouTube to know if it feasible, but maybe one of the computer gurus could let us know. However, the trouble is that unless you have cable broadband, viewing videos online is pretty painful.

Rocker