Googlepoint Poisoning

Google rolls out its new slide presentation app

by Rupert Sharp
of http://www.oyster-web.co.uk

Last updated: 19 Sep 2007

Oh yes, you read it, Google has brought out a new application that allows its users to create slide shows online. Accessible from Google Docs, you can create and edit a slide show presentation online. An interesting advantage of that is that Google allows collaborative editing (which sounds a tad worrying) but you can communicate through Google Talk to maximise productivity. After creation, the new Google presentations are available to view by your audience online where you can talk them through it - again using Google talk - while they move through the slides at their leisure by clicking links on the pages. A sort of online Powerpoint.

Google announced the intention to build such a piece of software to compliment Google Docs on the 17th of August 2007 but there had been rumours of such a development beforehand. No longer will you have to sit in a hot sweaty boardroom staring blankly at a projection of 'An Infinite Amount of Things We Think Will Help Worker Productivity', now you can do it from the comfort of your own home. Excitement.

This new addition to Google Docs will I'm sure help some businesses. The idea of having all your documents viewable and editable online by anyone you want may seem appealing to some, but if you think about it, “Give us all your important stuff! We're safe, honest!” is the message I get in my head. Although Google hasn't done anything notably sinister in the past I'd be careful putting vital documents up on Google Docs especially if it’s got anything 'anti-Google'. You may be being watched :-P

P.S. Check out this serious Google propaganda on the subject. Very cringey.

(For those who aren’t Dilbert addicts the inspiration for the title of this article comes from a cartoon strip where the office junior collapses during a presentation and Dilbert’s diagnosis is “Powerpoint Poisoning”. )