On Zombies: Epistelesslogical Rupture praises theory of Google Docs, lists frustrating practical limitations of Google Docs

As the Epistelesslogical Rupture was watching the Common Craft video on How to Identify a Zombie (which was a link from The Skokie Ten page on Google Docs), the Epistelesslogical Rupture realized that perhaps the creative folks at Common Craft were never going to get around to the part where they describe how zombies have something to do with Google Docs. The Epistelesslogical Rupture finally found the Common Craft page about Google Docs and watched it.

The Google Docs video from Common Craft wasn't as amusing as the zombie one, but it made sense of the "one file, many contributors" idea. Because the Epistelesslogical Rupture has a history in journalism, editing, and collaborative efforts, and because the Epistelesslogical Rupture often finds itself serving as the hub of a wheel with many spokes, the Epistelesslogical Rupture immediately saw the value of the "one file, many contributors" idea.

The Epistelesslogical Rupture has previously used Google Docs for basic word processing at public computer terminals which were not equipped with a word processor ... and the Epistelesslogical Rupture has also previously used Google Docs to edit a letter emailed to the Epistelesslogical Rupture by a colleague. However, the "one file, many contributors" idea was the cha-ching selling point tonight.

1. The Epistelesslogical Rupture is currently working on a large-scale editing-and-revision project for the Epistelesslogical Rupture's employer, which involves taking a Word document and revising its contents, which then need to be reviewed and approved by two people, then eventually by ten people, then eventually by an additional eight people. Eureka! One file, many contributors. The Epistelesslogical Rupture decided to upload the Word doc (of the file needing revisions and a million approvals) to Google Docs.
   
   However... Google Docs cannot upload a Word doc file of more than 500 kilobytes. The file needing revisions and a million approvals, because it contains some graphic elements, is 14.8 megabytes. So the simple, straightforward upload process stopped with an imprecise error message ("Internet Explorer cannot display the webpage...") Google Docs is a great idea, but it should be able to offer to extract the text from a graphic-heavy Word doc, instead of grinding to a halt without explaining why. If the Epistelesslogical Rupture has time, the Epistelesslogical Rupture will plan to cut and paste the text of the Word doc into Google Docs. But chances are, the Epistelesslogical Rupture will choose to use Word for its collaborative needs for this task.
   
2. The Epistelesslogical Rupture's second issue with Google Docs is Docs' lack of support for footnotes. The Epistelesslogical Rupture was helping to type a chapter of an academic book for a professorial friend when the manuscript called for a footnote. The Epistelesslogical Rupture looked for a footnote tool in Google Docs, but found none. The Epistelesslogical Rupture searched Google Docs help center for support, but found only that Google Docs does not currently support footnotes or endnotes.
   
3. The Epistelesslogical Rupture's third issue with Google Docs is like the first: the Epistelesslogical Rupture has a friend who had to, with a graduate school classmate, assemble a Powerpoint presentation for a class discussion they were leading together. The two had a cumbersome time emailing Powerpoint presentations back and forth to each other until the files became too big to email back and forth anymore. Then, it fell on the shoulders of one of them to finish the presentation solo at the last minute. Had they attempted to upload their presentation to Google Docs to edit it there, they would've had the same limitation: Google Docs will upload a presentation (such as a Powerpoint presentation) of up to 10 megabytes, but the cumbersome Powerpoint was larger than 10 megabytes. A company like Google that can provide 5GB of email storage per Gmail user can provide better upload limits.

Until Google really invests in making its Google Apps (like Google Docs) into really professional tools, Google Docs will be a fun gadget to play around with (sort of like the Common Craft zombie video), but not a reliable tool for professional or scholarly collaboration.

Nevertheless, the Epistelesslogical Rupture feels certain that Google is already aware of these limitations, and probably has a timetable for finessing those limitations into something more satisfying and productive, and less frustrating.