Cloud Computing = Innovation Without a Budget

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So you think your budget is tight? Just image being an innovative educator in the San Diego Unified School District.

In his blog, Doug’s Dirt, Doug McIntosh explains the problem and his solution (hint: it includes Google Apps).

Next, look at the Google Apps in the Classroom, a Google Site he created that tells other teachers how to use the tools themselves.

Imagine if the move to Google Apps was a district-wide initiative, creating a communication and collaboration environment among faculty, administrators, resources, and staff …. not just in the classroom.

New Federal CIO prefers Software-as-a-Service

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The US has a CIO for the first time. In appointing Vivek Kundra the federal government’s first CIO, President Obama acknowledges the role information services can play in effective management and service delivery.

Vivek Kundra, the former CTO of Washington D.C., is best known for moving the District onto Google Apps. In addition to big savings on email, Google Apps provided a platform for inter-department collaboration and more transparency for the public. Every District employee is reachable by email and agencies and program use Google Sites to publish and share information.

That the first US CIO has a preference for Software as a Service solutions is a hopeful sign. While he has no direct control over agency CIO’s, if the White House is pushing for SaaS, we can and will see adoption and cost savings.

Google Voice is Coming as an upgrade to GrandCentral

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As reported in the Official Google Blog, Google is preparing to replace its GrandCentral voice service with Google Voice. Google Voice is designed to provide you with a universal number that will ring your office, home, and mobile numbers while providing a single voice mailbox and a rich set of features.

For now, only existing GrandCentral users in the US can upgrade, but Google is promising to extend availability in the near future.

Smaller Collaboration Firms add Validity to the SaaS Market

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Smaller companies, like drop.io, are coming out with innovative, feature rich offerings to strong reviews.

While these solutions compete with specific collaboration functions, they do not yet offer an integrated communications and collaboration solution.

A Rational View of Google’s Recent Minor Security Glitch

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David Schrag, author of Stop Buying Servers, offers a rational assessment of Google’s recent security glitch … read it here

Microsoft to VARs: Never Mind

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In a major shift, Microsoft has changed its mind and backtracked from its decision to allow VARs to bill directly for SaaS solutions. Here is the story.

Google Docs now has Footnotes

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Google Docs now supports footnotes! Here’s how …

Publish Results with Forms and Spreadsheets

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When you create a form, associated with a spreadsheet, you can now elect to share results — a summary of responses — with your collaborators, or with everybody that fills in the form.

Learn more here.

“Spreadsheet Lite” Improves Access from Mobile Phones

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Google has added “List View” to Google Spreadsheets. List view is a basic, fast-loading view of a spreadsheet, with simplified editing features. It makes it easy to access Google Spreadsheets:

  • On a slow Internet connection
  • From some mobile phones
  • When there are more than 50 users trying to access a spreadsheet at the same time

Learn more here.

Google Spreadsheets Get Data Validation

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Google has added data validation (lenient or strict) to Google Spreadsheets. You can now:

  • Validate numbers, dates, and text.
  • Prevent users from entering text that doesn’t match your criteria, or show them a comment on the cell when the data doesn’t match the validation rule.
  • Add text to the cells you add validation to, to help your collaborators enter the right type of data.

Learn more here.