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Google Presentations is Live!  (View post)

DaveB [PersonRank 3]

Tuesday, September 18, 2007
16 years ago15,866 views

Go to Docs & Spreadsheets (now just Docs) click add new and Presentations is an option.

Google Guide is also talking about it in the help group.

They scooped the TechCrunch announcement it seems.

DaveB [PersonRank 3]

16 years ago #

When you try it out, check out the "Change theme" feature. Not bad to get a quick little presentation up.

DaveB [PersonRank 3]

16 years ago #

Post on Official Google Blog:

Our feature presentation

   http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2007/09/our-feature-presentation.html

David Mulder [PersonRank 10]

16 years ago #

I just saw it YEAH YEAH YEAH... I am just saw happy... :P

Sorry for the childish reaction, but I have been waiting so long.

Avrohom Eliezer Friedman (AEF) [PersonRank 10]

16 years ago #

It's in Google Apps also – Woot! Woot!

Avrohom Eliezer Friedman (AEF) [PersonRank 10]

16 years ago #

Wow! you can do online presentations. And see who is viewing it! Cool!

DaveB [PersonRank 3]

16 years ago #

And make comments (with emoticons) during the presentation.

Colin Colehour [PersonRank 10]

16 years ago #

Now its just called Google Docs:
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1097/1399662871_c5bec46c4f_o.png

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1361/1399662819_f55f3b97a5_o.png

BrianS [PersonRank 7]

16 years ago #

My question now is.... is this what they are announcing tomorrow at techrunch40? Or do we have even more exciting things coming from Google tomorrow?

RC [PersonRank 10]

16 years ago #

I'm so glad they renamed it to Docs.

More like Google style!

mukthar [PersonRank 7]

16 years ago #

Opera still not supported :-(

Ben Allen [PersonRank 10]

16 years ago #

The login page still says Docs and Spreadsheets. :

Reto Meier [PersonRank 10]

16 years ago #

I gotta say – this is pretty underwhelming. It's an online app that lets you create the most awful of PowerPoint presentations (use a default theme, then pages of 'bullet points' presented in one of three column layouts). I suppose I was hoping for more of a Keynote clone than a PowerPoint clone.

The instant messaging part is nice, but really only useful for distributed teams – and you can achieve the same thing using any existing instant messenger.

Here's hoping there's more to the TechCrunch40 presentation than this.

David Hetfield [PersonRank 10]

16 years ago #

It ain't fair. I'm at work and i can't see it :/

David T [PersonRank 7]

16 years ago #

Just saw that "Presentation" is now live as well!

On my system it is still called "Docs & Spreadsheets" however...

Tony Ruscoe [PersonRank 10]

16 years ago #

Finally! Some things to note:

1) It's still called "Docs & Spreadsheets" everywhere for me.

[Edit: Looks like my logos were just cached...]

2) Downloading the file as a ZIP downloads it as HTML format.

3) It's using the Google Talk Gadget for chat when doing a team presentation.

4) It's using the "writely" service name rather than being a new one of its own.

Above 16 comments were made in the forum before this was blogged,

Reto Meier [PersonRank 10]

16 years ago #

The first thing they need to add is the ability to include things from other Google products into your presentations: Pictures from Picasaweb, spreadsheets (and graphs) from Spreadsheets, videos from YouTube / GoogleVideo / Picasaweb, and mapplets / maps.

The next thing they need is to make the presentations more dynamic. At the moment all you can create are those terrible, boring PowerPoint slides that just show headings or bullet points. I don't see where the hude time investment went – this isn't far from Google Page Creator with a thumbnail view on the left and a GoogleTalk gadget on the right...

Tony Ruscoe [PersonRank 10]

16 years ago #

Press release:

http://www.google.com/intl/en/press/annc/docspresentations.html

Quite a few official blog posts from Google on this:

Official Google Blog:
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2007/09/our-feature-presentation.html

Official Google Enterprise Blog:
http://googleenterprise.blogspot.com/2007/09/we-are-pleased-to-present.html

Official Google Docs Blog:
http://google-d-s.blogspot.com/2007/09/and-now-we-present.html

(That google-d-s address makes even less sense now...)

Philipp Lenssen [PersonRank 10]

16 years ago #

Agree with you Reto about the need for embedding e.g. spreadsheets. It's a must-have if this is supposed to make sense as office suite. Adding YouTube as you mention would start to become really interesting.

I'd also like to see Creative Commons addition. First, they need to add a Creative Commons option to Picasa so that when you upload new pics, you can flag them as share-able. Then they can add an advanced option to the "include image" dialog in Presentations and Documents which allows you to search for these documents, picking from the right licensing (e.g. if your document itself is CC-enabled, then you'd also see clip arts with the CC-"share-alike" restriction). They could also integrate Flickr CC-licensed material into this database, or even material from all over the web.

As far as this being no reinvention of the wheel Reto, I think you're right but I guess that's just what Google was aiming for to please all the current PowerPoint users who ponder switching. Perhaps they'll add more stuff down the road but being too inventive at this point might have alienated their target group. Many of the more "web-oriented" people prefer e.g. a blog for "getting a point across" anyway, or other more innovative methods.....

On a side-note, for me the "Google Docs" logo shows when I open a new presentation in the editor, and the "Google Docs & Spreadsheets" logo shows at the docs.google.com base page...

Tony Ruscoe [PersonRank 10]

16 years ago #

<< On a side-note, for me the "Google Docs" logo shows when I open a new presentation in the editor, and the "Google Docs & Spreadsheets" logo shows at the docs.google.com base page... >>

That's what was happening to me too. When I right-clicked to view the image on its own and did a proper reload, the new one appeared.

Same goes for the logo used in Google Spreadsheets:

http://www.google.com/images/spreadsheets/logos/en/docs_spreadsheets_sm.gif

However, the Google Docs home page logo is slightly mis-sized now. The HTML allows for a 143 x 65 image but the new logo is a 150 x 65 image:

http://docs.google.com/images/doclist/logo_docs.gif

Inferno [PersonRank 10]

16 years ago #

They removed the documents and spreadsheets tabs from the settings page

Philipp Lenssen [PersonRank 10]

16 years ago #

Ah, same here now Tony, including Google's resizing bug...

Tony Ruscoe [PersonRank 10]

16 years ago #

A while back, we discussed the Google Docs API:

http://blogoscoped.com/forum/104575.html#id104595

All three of these feeds are now broken on my main Google Account, returning 404 Not Found errors:

http://docs.google.com/feeds/documents/private/full/-/document
http://docs.google.com/feeds/documents/private/full/-/spreadsheet
http://docs.google.com/feeds/documents/private/full/-/presentation

They do, however, still work on another Google Account which I can access. (Which is perhaps-not-coincidentally the same account that the presentation feed worked on before.)

Tony Ruscoe [PersonRank 10]

16 years ago #

They also seem to be promoting the use of http://documents.google.com rather than the http://docs.google.com domain (even thought it just redirects). It's used in the recent blog post announcements and also linked to from the tour:

http://www.google.com/google-d-s/intl/en/tour1.html

I wonder whether they've found out that "docs" means something completely different in another language or whether they think people just don't understand what it means...?

Whatever the reason, why would they change the product name to "Google Docs" and then start using http://documents.google.com everywhere?

inglesgarantizado [PersonRank 0]

16 years ago #

i want to make a presentation with it and then post to my blog website page etc.. But only docs can be posted ,not presentations. i want a webpage blog watever,with manually changed slides and info, fotos ,MUSIC, on my site. How can i get this product to do this?
steven[put at-character here]inglesgarantizado.com

Mrrix32 [PersonRank 10]

16 years ago #

Woo! Yay!!
Oh wait Nooooo!!! I'm at college and don't have enough time to test it :-(

David Hetfield [PersonRank 10]

16 years ago #

Welcome to the club Martin, i can't test it either :/

I need to get back home from work first :S

TOMHTML [PersonRank 10]

16 years ago #

There is a fucking leak of privacy. I have embeded a presentation on Zorgloob : hhttp://www.zorgloob.com/2007/09/google-prsentations-google-lance-son.asp

with the chat, I have the mail adresse of all readers of Zorgloob...

Ludwik Trammer [PersonRank 10]

16 years ago #

I made a presentation and enabled sharing, but every time I access it from an another profile I got "Unable to join this presentation online." error instead of chat frame. At the beginning I even got 404 error there...

Tony Ruscoe [PersonRank 10]

16 years ago #

<< with the chat, I have the mail adresse of all readers of Zorgloob... >>

Wow! That's a neat way to see who's currently reading your blog and logged into their Google Account!

TOMHTML [PersonRank 10]

16 years ago #

I have already a list of ~100 readers of Zorgloob, even if they didn't talk... I have contacted Google France about this privacy issue.

DaveB [PersonRank 3]

16 years ago #

"i want to make a presentation with it and then post to my blog website page etc.. But only docs can be posted ,not presentations."

Check this out:
   http://google.blognewschannel.com/archives/2007/09/18/how-to-embed-google-presentations/

TOMHTML [PersonRank 10]

16 years ago #

it's false
look here http://www.zorgloob.com/2007/09/google-prsentations-google-lance-son.asp

Ludwik Trammer [PersonRank 10]

16 years ago #

Is anyone able to present live to an audience? I'm able to turn on this feature, but audience members got "unable to join" error...
I would like to use this feature in real live setting (in a class room) tomorrow, so I'm very curious when they will fix this...

TOMHTML [PersonRank 10]

16 years ago #

you have to made it "public"

John McGuinness [PersonRank 1]

16 years ago #

Support for uploading .odp files is missing – if you're using OpenOffice to create your presentations, you need to save it as .ppt, then upload it to Google Docs. That's two hops, and some stuff id going to to get lost in the translation. I'm sure .odp support is forthcoming.

That being said – this is a godsend. I already used it, since I teach a class, and wanted to make my slides available to the class, and I don't have access to a file server there yet.. Upload it to docs, publish, put a link on the website, and I'm done.

Reto Meier [PersonRank 10]

16 years ago #

[put at-character here]John: Interesting. Do you see yourself creating the slides in Presentation directly, or using it as a hosting solution?

Tony Ruscoe [PersonRank 10]

16 years ago #

>> Is anyone able to present live to an audience?

Yep, works well. You can actually try it with yourself in two separate windows. Only collaborators can lead the presentation. Anyone else can either follow or click through the slides in their own time.

John McGuinness [PersonRank 1]

16 years ago #

Well, right now I see it as a hosting solution until I have time to get familiar with the interface (I just got familar with OO, and don't really have much time to teach myself a new one, even if it is intuitive).

What will be good about this as a hosting is that it does not require either PPT or OO to be installed on the client box, though I guess it will require Flash player/plugin.

Tony Ruscoe [PersonRank 10]

16 years ago #

And, just like in Google Docs, it appears all the files used within Google Presentations have a public URL regardless of whether they are published or not:

http://docs.google.com/File?id=dgdvh3z5_57qcm2c7hm

More info about how this affects Google Docs:
http://googlesystem.blogspot.com/2007/07/google-documents-cant-be-deleted.html

Ludwik Trammer [PersonRank 10]

16 years ago #

> you have to made it "public"

I've made it public.

> Yep, works well. You can actually try
> it with yourself in two separate windows.

I'm able to do that, but if I actually try to do that with another user in another browser it breaks. Everybody can see the slides, but the chat feature works only for those with whom I explicitly shared the presentation (other people see a frame with 404 error), and live presentation feature works for me only.

Ludwik Trammer [PersonRank 10]

16 years ago #

The URl of the presentation I used for this testing is http://docs.google.com/TeamPresent?docid=dgzxf2p5_43hthjts

Ludwik Trammer [PersonRank 10]

16 years ago #

Tony Ruscoe opened the presentation and he was able to join both the chat and the live presentation.
I for one tested it with four different accounts:

1. My main gmail account, which I used to make this presentation: I can see the slides, I'm able to join both the chat and the live presentation. Everything works ok. I wasn't able to replicate this on any other account.

2. Some Google Account that isn't an gmail account: I can see the slides, but I got a box with a 404 message instead of a chat, and I'm not able to join the live presentation.

3. Google Apps account: I can see the slides, I can join the chat, but I'm not able to join the live presentation.

4. My mother's gmail account: I can see the slides, I got plain blue box (flash) instead of a chat, and I'm not able to join the presentation.

TOMHTML [PersonRank 10]

16 years ago #

I have already gathered 200+ mail addresses...

David Hetfield [PersonRank 10]

16 years ago #

Just got home!...
This rocks!!!

Oh, and i'm still getting the " old " logo:
http://docs.google.com/images/editor_docsslogo.gif

and
http://docs.google.com/images/doclist/logo_docs.gif

Tony Ruscoe [PersonRank 10]

16 years ago #

<< Oh, and i'm still getting the " old " logo: >>

David, right-click those images you just posted and select "View Image" then do Ctrl+R. You should then see the new ones.

David Hetfield [PersonRank 10]

16 years ago #

Cool!!!!

Thanks Tony! :D

HayTom [PersonRank 0]

16 years ago #

:p

TOMHTML [PersonRank 10]

16 years ago #

in French, they could be set "Google Docs" too, but maybe Americans think we are too stupid to understand abbreviations.

French:
http://docs.google.com/locales/fr/images/docsslogo.gif

Spanish: (not "documento"?)
http://docs.google.com/locales/es/images/docsslogo.gif

Italian:
http://docs.google.com/locales/it/images/docsslogo.gif

German: (not updated?)
http://docs.google.com/locales/de/images/docsslogo.gif

Denmark:
http://docs.google.com/locales/da/images/docsslogo.gif

Netherlands:
http://docs.google.com/locales/nl/images/docsslogo.gif

Poland:
http://docs.google.com/locales/pl/images/docsslogo.gif

etc.

DPic [PersonRank 10]

16 years ago #

NO OpenOffice.org SUPPORT!?!?!?!? Ahhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Other than that it's awesome.

Hashim Warren [PersonRank 4]

16 years ago #

can't export as PPT? Dealbreaker!

SQ89 [PersonRank 3]

16 years ago #

Interesting use of the Google Talk Gadget. I wonder whether they will make this private chat room function available to third-party web apps?

Ionut Alex. Chitu [PersonRank 10]

16 years ago #

[moved from "Google Privacy Problems Introduced Through Presentations"]

OK, so you embed the presentation in an iframe, keep the page open and collect all the email addresses of your visitors in your Gmail account (assuming they were logged in).

dan[put at-character here]gmail.com has joined
tobi[put at-character here]googlemail.com has joined
etc.

Philipp Lenssen [PersonRank 10]

16 years ago #

Ionut, you also get their full names if you attend the chat window, as they're displayed there.

By the way, I moved this from the other thread, I know it's no secret by now (not in this thread, not on Zorgloob) but let's give Google security some time to react...

TOMHTML [PersonRank 10]

16 years ago #

I didn't published the trick on Zorgloob but I see many people have guessed it, it's not so complicated.

Philipp Lenssen [PersonRank 10]

16 years ago #

Ah OK... yeah, you can even discover this accidentally when trying to publish a presentation... that's how you discovered it right?

Ionut Alex. Chitu [PersonRank 10]

16 years ago #

One way to fix this is to not allow iframing the page.

Tony Ruscoe [PersonRank 10]

16 years ago #

>> Official Google Docs Blog:
>> http://google-d-s.blogspot.com/2007/09/and-now-we-present.html
>>
>> (That google-d-s address makes even less sense now...)

Ahh... they've moved the blog now to this much more sensible address:

http://googledocs.blogspot.com

It's a shame all the old permalinks and the feed are now broken though.

Tony Ruscoe [PersonRank 10]

16 years ago #

>> One way to fix this is to not allow iframing the page.

A better way would be to get people to confirm that they actually want to join the "Audience" chat for the presentation.

TOMHTML [PersonRank 10]

16 years ago #

It is exactly what I have proposed to Google.

"Ah OK... yeah, you can even discover this accidentally when trying to publish a presentation... that's how you discovered it right?"
> Yes we discovered it by this way. And when someone send a mail to all the contacts... ^^

BTW, I didn't know that if you enter " ^bla^ " in google talk gadget, it becomes blue.

Philipp Lenssen [PersonRank 10]

16 years ago #

> Ahh... they've moved the blog now to this much
> more sensible address:
>
> googledocs.blogspot.com

The RSS feed linked from the new domain (see google-d-s.blogspot.com/atom.xml and googledocs.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default?alt=rss) only shows
"Please see: http:/ /google-d-s.blogspot.com" ... which forwards back to googledocs.blogspot.com.

Ionut Alex. Chitu [PersonRank 10]

16 years ago #

... and all the posts return 404. Brilliant.

http://google-d-s.blogspot.com/2007/04/how-to-make-pie.html

Martin Porcheron [PersonRank 10]

16 years ago #

And they haven't renamed the blog yet, so the title is still "Official Google Docs and Spreadsheets Blog"

David Hetfield [PersonRank 10]

16 years ago #

My guess is:
Google launched it in a hurry because they probably have an inside information about other companies (MS, Yahoo! etc') that are trying to release a similar service online.

That's why Google is unprepared for Presentations. They launched it so fast without even noticing what they're leaving behind. (logos, blog posts and address and so on)

Tue Abrahamsen [PersonRank 7]

16 years ago #

That would be pretty disappointing. Google does seem to have problems with the details, especially on product launches.

Philipp Lenssen [PersonRank 10]

16 years ago #

My guess is they were in a hurry because they already postponed the originally internally planned launch schedule before, and because they gave a promise for a release during summer which ends very soon.

David Hetfield [PersonRank 10]

16 years ago #

Yes. That can also be true Philipp.

Zim [PersonRank 10]

16 years ago #

I'm about to cry!
I'll test it as soon as I can :)

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