Google Docs

 Google Docs is a free, Web-based office suite and data storage service offered by Google. It allows users to create and edit documents online while collaborating in real-time with other users. Google Docs combines the features of Writely and Spreadsheets with a presentation program incorporating technology designed by Tonic Systems. Data storage of files up to 1 GB total in size was introduced on January 13, 2010, but has since been increased to 10GB, documents created inside Google Docs do not count towards this quota. The largely anticipated cloud storage feature by Google is said to be replacing most of Docs' features in 2012.

History
Google Docs originated from two separate products, Writely and Google Spreadsheets. Writely was a web-based word processor created by the software company Upstartle and launched in August 2005. Spreadsheets, launched as Google Labs Spreadsheets on June 6, 2006, originated from the acquisition of the XL2Web product by 2Web Technologies. Writely's original features included a collaborative text editing suite and access controls. Menus, keyboard shortcuts, and dialog boxes are similar to what users may expect in a desktop word processor such as Microsoft Word or OpenOffice.org Writer.

Google Picasa

Picasa is an image organizer and image viewer for organizing and editing digital photos, plus an integrated photo-sharing website, originally created by a company named Lifescape (which at that time may have resided at Idealab) in 2002 and owned by Google since 2004. "Picasa" is a blend of the name of Spanish painter Pablo Picasso, the phrase mi casa for "my house", and "pic" for pictures (personalized art). In July 2004, Google acquired Picasa and began offering it as a free download.

Native applications for Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7 and Mac OS X (Intel only) are available through Google Labs. For Linux, Google has bundled Wine with the Windows version to create an installation package rather than write a native Linux version, but this version is severely out of date (the latest Windows version, however, can be run with Wine, see Linux section). There is also an iPhoto plugin or a standalone program for uploading photos available for Mac OS X 10.4 and later.

iGoogle

iGoogle (formerly Google Personalized Homepage), a service of Google, is a customizable Ajax-based startpage or personal web portal (much like Netvibes, Pageflakes, My Yahoo!, and Windows Live Personalized Experience). Google originally launched the service in May 2005. Its features include the capability to add web feeds a"Google Personalized Homepage" to "iGoogle". As of 17 October 2007 Google had made the service available in many localized versions in 42 languages, and in over 70 country domain-names. In February 2007, 7.1 million people used iGoogle. In April 2008, 20% of all visits to Google's homepage used iGoogle.

Experimental iGoogle

On July 8, 2008, Google announced the beginning of a testing period for a new version of iGoogle which alters some features, including replacing the tabs with left navigation, adding chat functionality, and a canvas-view gadget for RSS. Users were selected for this test and notified when they logged in by a link to a brief description and further links to forums. On the forums, it was explained that there was no opt-out, as a control for the test. Further, there was no information on how long the test would continue. Many expressed dissatisfaction with the new version and with the inability to opt out.

Google Reader

Google Reader is a Web-based aggregator, capable of reading Atom and RSS feeds online or offline. It was released by Google on October 7, 2005 through Google Labs. Reader was graduated from beta status on September 17, 2007.

Interface

Google made major revisions to Reader's user-interface on September 28, 2006. Product manager Nick Baum described the redesign as a movement toward making news aggregation something for the general public to enjoy. Kevin Fox, the designer of the revised Google Reader, noted that the original version was optimal for those who want to read a "river" of news. The new version took into account that most readers segment their reading by feed, group, tag, folder, or into "must read" and "maybe if I get to it" feeds.

Google Chrome

Google Chrome is a web browser developed by Google that uses the WebKit layout engine. It was first released as a beta version for Microsoft Windows on September 2, 2008, and the public stable release was on December 11, 2008. The name is derived from the graphical user interface frame, or "chrome", of web browsers. As of January 2012, Google Chrome has approximately 25-28% worldwide usage share of web browsers, making it the second or the third most widely used browser, according to different estimates. According to StatCounter, Chrome overtook Firefox in November 2011, and is the most popular browser in Pakistan, Russia, India and South America.

In September 2008, Google released a large portion of Chrome's source code, including its V8 JavaScript engine, as an open source project called Chromium. This move enabled third-party developers to study the underlying source code and to help port the browser to the Mac OS X and Linux operating systems. Google also expressed hope that other browsers would adopt the V8 JavaScript engine to improve web application performance. The Google-authored portion of Chromium is released under the permissive BSD license, which allows portions to be incorporated into both open source and closed source software programs. Other portions of the source code are subject to a variety of open source licenses. Chromium implements a similar feature set as Chrome, but lacks built-in automatic updates, built-in PDF reader and Google branding, and has a blue-colored logo instead of the multicolored Google logo.

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Google Gadgets

Google Gadgets are dynamic web content that can be embedded on a web page. They can be added to and interact strongly with Google's iGoogle personalized home page and the Google Desktop application, as well as Google Wave. Webmasters can add and customize a gadget to their own business or personal web site, a process called "syndication."

Gadgets are developed by Google and third-party developers using the Google Gadgets API, using basic web technologies such as XML and JavaScript.

Multi-user persistent - Wave Gadgets

With the advent of Google Wave, gadgets can now have persistent storage and multi-user capabilities and better state management. Gadgets using Google Wave in this way are simply known as 'Wave Gadgets'. For instance, a game that is written using a Google Gadget can use Google Wave technology to record a list of users and high scores without having to worry about how to permanently store the scores on a hosted server. The use of Google Wave gives the gadget multi-user and permanent storage capabilities. For example, scores can be stored in a Google Wave which is hosted permanently by Google at no cost to the user.

Technology

Google Gadgets are written in XML and can have HTML and Javascript components and can use Google Wave.

Here is an example of a Hello World program written using Google Gadget technology.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
<Module> 
<ModulePrefs title="simple hello world example" />  
<Content type="html">    
     <![CDATA[
       Hello, world!
     ]]>

</Content>
</Module>

Google Products

Google Products

These are just some of the many free tools that Google has to offer. Other helpful tools include Google Toolbar with PageRank, iGoogle desktop, Book Search, Free Blogger software and hosting, Business Finance charts and information, Gmail, Personal and Group Calendar, Free Website Creator and Google Groups. Google has a lot to offer anyone who is interested in setting up a website or improving an existing site.

Google Toolbar with PageRank. iGoogle desktop. View book text with Book Search. Free Blogger software and hosting. Business Finance charts and information. Gmail. Personal and Group Calendar. Create web Sites. Personal Health Records online. Build 3D SketchUp models. Use Google Groups.for Club calendar and mail. More Google Products.