ThinkFree.ThinkSlow?

My initial enthusiasm for ThinkFree Office has been slightly dented by the slow performance I've experienced in the word processor this morning. I typed two lines of text - screen updating was sluggish at first but then improved. When I tried to select the two lines of text, I found it quite difficult - I triple-clicked the top line and selected it, but then couldn't get any reaction when I tried to select the second line as well. The entire interface seemed to have frozen. Now that I've just returned to it, the performance is much better, and I was able to drag and select what I wanted with no problems. Perhaps these are temporary glitches. Onward.

The font selection is quite impressive, I've used some of them as well as some colors. I decided to add some clip art. This necessitated the installation of some files and everything slowed down again. Even writing this blog post became impossible. But finally, my four-leaf clover appeared in the document, and I imagine that in future, it won't take so long.

Above is the result of my experimentation.

What are Google Docs when they're at home?

Useful! The most recent use I've made of a shared google document is a recipe spreadsheet, so that my partner and I can easily refer to our favourite dinner recipes, and make additions or corrections whenever we think of it. There is a column for cookbook, page, vegetarian or not, and whether other people (less enamored of The Spicy) would be able to eat it. Prior to that, we used a spreadsheet to calculate whether the car scrappage scheme made any sense for us, and allowed us to compare the costs of different vehicles and look at the same figures from different locations as we discussed it.

These are not earth-shattering feats, but it is surprising how making access simple can encourage you to update a document whereas otherwise you might never get around to it.

Fun with Forms

Here is a silly little Google form.