The Joy of Docs

This may come as a surprise to you, but I have just discovered Google Docs. Well, discovered isn’t the right word. Of course, I’ve known about Google docs since 2006, but speed of internet connection and mistrust with the cloud computing universe’s reliability as a whole, has prevented me from really exploring all that docs has to offer.

I just have one main computer which I share with my partner. As we both teach, this workhorse is constantly in use, with probably just 4 hours of downtime a day. We’re both planning our schedules around when we can use it for preparation and other things. So, I can’t start and finish a novel on it. It can only be used for final edits of my stories. Too many expected interruptions means I would be unable to focus on a particularly poignant piece of prose for hours, and it would be better to just sit in a cafe for several hours somewhere instead.

But, with Google Docs, slow WiFi notwithstanding, I can alternate between the PC and my netbook. Previously I would upload a doc file to my PC, begin editing, realize it needed a lot more work, then download it again and transfer it back to my netbook and disappear. Now, I don’t really need to do that. Simply putting it on Docs I can switch almost seamlessly from the netbook at my kitchen table to the main PC near the bed at any time. (We live in a tiny studio apartment.) And if the netbook on my battery dies, Google Docs would have already saved the work seconds ago, unlike my Word settings generally which save every ten minutes.

Still, even 12 years later, I’m not happy with it. Not because the system itself is bad. Far from it. But because, even with the fastest internet Australia has to offer, I still have to wait for Google Docs to update the last few words I just entered. Wifi here still just can’t keep up with my typing speed. It really works its best on a direct LAN connection.

And with Australia’s internet speed on the Speedtest Global Index now at 55th, I guess it’ll still be awhile yet before I can really enjoy Docs via WiFi.