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Google Apps can only be described in one word; "convenience.  Google apps takes all the things we love from our standard office suite and builds on it and makes it web based.  Having all your documents web based is a god send if you ever have to travel or work at home.  Not having to lug the company lap top all over the world or just to and from work daily is great!  Google apps combined with gmail and calendar can really make your work life a lot easier and more effective.  If you are not familiar you should just google, "google apps" and read up on it yourself.  Echoes is a reseller of the Google App product, please shoot us a quick email if you have questions or are interested in how you could get away from your offices mundane product that handcuffs you daily.  I am also copying and pasting the February Newsletter that goes into a few of the updates to the Apps program that might get your interested sparked even more....

Product Updates:

Receive product updates by email:

If you'd like to be notified about product updates right as they happen, you can get alerts by email. To subscribe, visit http://www.google.com/apps/admin-updates.

Upload any file to Google Docs

We launched a upload any file feature that allows users the ability to upload, store and organize any type of file in Google Docs. we are rolling out the ability for Google Apps users to easily upload and securely share any type of file internally and externally using Google Docs. You get 1 GB of storage per user, and you can upload files up to 1 GB in size

You can also use the Google Documents List Data API to upload files to Google Docs in batch, or purchase applications offered by third parties that enable you to migrate and sync your files to Google Docs:

• Memeo Connect for Google Apps is a new desktop application that offers an easy way to access, migrate, and synchronize files to Google Docs across multiple computers. (PC and Mac)
• Syncplicity allows Google Apps users to synchronize, manage, and backup files across desktops and servers, making it easy to use Google Docs seamlessly with existing applications and files. (PC)
• Manymoon is an online project management platform that makes it simple to organize and share tasks and documents with coworkers and partners, including uploading files to Google Docs.

We're always looking for ways to make it easier for you to access and organize your information online and we hope you find the ability to store, share, and collaborate on files in Google Docs helpful. In the coming months, we will enable Google Apps Premier Edition customers to purchase additional storage for $3.50/GB/yr (or €3.00/gb/yr in the EU).

Thumbnail view and spelling correction for Google Docs

When combined with Search by Relevance, the thumbnail view makes it really easy to find the file you're looking for.

And for all us spelling-challenged and typo-prone folks, we added spelling correction in search. Never again will you need to wonder how your search for "agedna" (agenda) came up with zero results. :-)

Co-editor presence in Presentations

When you're co-editing in real-time, knowing where collaborators are making changes helps you avoid stepping on each other's toes. We already have visual indicators for co-editor presence in documents and spreadsheets, and now presentations sports this feature too. You can see which slides others are working on, and if you're editing the same slide together, colored indicators make it clear which text box, shape or other element they're modifying.

Default https access for Gmail

In the past, you had the option to always use https encryption in Gmail to help protect your data as it travels between your browser and our servers. After evaluating the trade-offs between security and latency, as of last week encryption is now the default in Gmail.

If you trust your network's security and want to disable always-on https for performance reasons, you can change your preferences in Gmail settings. Employees and students whose admins have not already defaulted their entire organizations to https will also see this option. The Gmail sign-in page will still always use https to help keep your password safe.

Easier duplicate contact merging

Over time, as friends and coworkers send you messages from different email addresses, your Gmail contact list can accumulate duplicate contacts. We recently made it easier to find and merge these duplicates. To get started, just just click the 'Find duplicates' button in the contact manager. Cleaning up your contact list is especially helpful if you sync your Gmail contacts with your phone.

Google Apps on Nexus One

Speaking of mobile phones, the new Nexus One Android device is a great way to take Google Apps with you everywhere. Nexus One not only syncs with multiple Gmail accounts, but it also syncs your contacts, with Google Calendar and with Picasa Web Albums. Nexus One lets you instant message using Google Talk and access voicemail — including handy message transcriptions — with the Google Voice app.

Automatic page translation in Google Sites

Building the same website in multiple languages is lots of work, even if you're multi-lingual. With automatic translation in Google Sites, sharing information with people who don't speak your language is much easier. Just create your site in your native language, and visitors can instantly translate your site into any one of 51 languages that they're more familiar with.

Administration tips

Has your company, school or organization decided to "go Google" — but not yet fully "gone?" Perhaps you'd like more guidance on the technical, marketing or training details? Or maybe you could use some resources to help you deploy? Making the decision to go Google can be the easiest part, but we realize that it sometimes takes a little boost to finish the process, which is where we come in.

Our Google Apps Deployment team has assisted hundreds of organizations — large and small — make the switch to Google Apps. To ensure that your implementation is a success, we've developed step-by-step tools to guide you through the process, and best practices to make your transition as smooth and easy as possible. Here are some of the resources you can explore when going Google.

How are other customers going Google?

Learn how Fairchild Semiconductor, a $1.6 billion chipmaker, migrated 6,000+ users in 40 countries from Lotus/Domino to Google Apps as described by Senior Director of IT, Barry Driscoll.

Learn how Sanmina-SCI's IT team recently completed a phased migration for 15,000 email users to replace Microsoft Exchange as described by Elliot Tally, Director of IT Collaboration and Automation for Sanmina-SCI