Google Apps Hacks

xi

foreword

Google. That’s the search place, right? Not anymore. Today, Google is like a megastore offering

products and services of all types. Sure, it still has search—but it doesn’t stop there. Google can be

your ofce; your answering service; your secretary. It can bring you the news each day, report on

how your business is performing, and provide you with entertainment when the day is done. Best

of all, virtually all of these services are free—and that’s beginning to dramatically change our lives.

I remember the shock of how expensive my rst computer was when I bought it in 1985—and

how shock turned to horror as I contemplated the cost of software. As a college student, I couldn’t

afford it. I borrowed copies, like so many others. After college, I started buying my own software.

But even with a good job, it was an expensive outlay to equip myself with a word processor and a

spreadsheet, as well as an electronic organizer. Expensive database software? Forget it. But without

software, our computers are lumps of metal and plastic. Software is what lets us harness

a computer’s power to do many things faster, better or more creatively than without digital help.

Enter Google. If I were in college today, I’d no longer need to borrow word processing software.

Google gives it to me, free of charge. And spreadsheets. And notepads. And a calendar, and an email

address book—not to mention ...