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What UK readers think of Google Drive & Docs In 30 Minutes

By January 29, 2015Blog

Google Drive & Docs UK
Amazon in the United Kingdom has a separate set of reader reviews for In 30 Minutes titles. I was delighted to see 4-5 star reviews dominating the Amazon UK product page for Google Drive & Docs In 30 Minutes. Here are a few samples:

Martin:

“A colleague and I had written a technical book that took us 5 years. We communicated by email with attachments that were limited in size. So any images that were too large for email were copied onto CD and posted.

Now four years later we are embarking on another technical book with another author who lives and works in the USA and Luxembourg.

So this time we are using the “Cloud” to collaborate and we all use Google, so “Google Drive” was our choice. So that we are all using the same sheet we needed a procedure to follow and “Google Drive & Docs in 30 Minutes” turned out to be just right for us. Chapters 2 and 6 covers every technique we will need. So I give it 5 stars for my review!”

Anne:

“This was very useful trying to get to grips with the way Google Docs works. I wanted to get rid of all connections with Office and Open Office and I was struggling. And not sure what could be done online and offline. Now I know.”

One of the most interesting Amazon UK reader reviews came from Andy_atGC, one of the top 100 reviewers on Amazon UK (#76 at the time of this writing). To attain this status, you have to have lots of reviews, and Andy has 1,500 and climbing. Here’s what he had to say:

“Google Drive is a multi-platform, free mini-office suite from Google. It has versions for the PC, iPads and iPhones, and Chromebooks (it is a major component of the Chrome OS) and there is a client for Android which allows Google documents created on one device or computer and in its Google Drive folder to be viewed on any other compatible platform. Google offer little or no written instructions on its use and this book is one of a very few to fill that need.

The component apps are undemanding, far less capable and complete than Microsoft Office and those such as LibreOffice or OpenOffice or any other similar package. However, for basic letter writing, inter-office reports, simple spreadsheets and presentations Google Docs will probably meet most people’s normal needs. One thing that it can do that the more complex products cannot do quite as readily or at all is to allow group contributions. One person can edit another’s work provided that they are members of the same network or have access to it via a provided link; instead of saving its files to a local hard drive, memory stick or some other device they are all in the Cloud. It will therefore allow remote contributions from many people, simultaneously or independently, to a magazine, book or other large publication.

The book is a short one, barely more than 100 pages, is easy to read even for those with minimal computing knowledge and is sufficient to cover most of the offered functions in some depth. However, not all options within a function are covered but there is more than enough to get you started. Thanks to its brevity and easy writing style, it should satisfy most of the package’s users.”

I appreciate honest reviews from any reader, no matter where they reside. Currently the Google Drive & Google Docs book is only available in English, but I have explored how they can be ported to other languages, either as a translation or a licensed title.