How long do updates take?

This week was an especially frustrating week for my computers.

My websites for work had WordPress core updates.  Those usually go smoothly, but then there are sometimes issues with plug-ins and themes that take a little work-this was the case for me.  I spent hours troubleshooting a couple of issues, and finally after going to the theme developers (who issued 3 updates this week) I was on track.

I have a Mac laptop and a MacMini that I use for work.  I use Adobe Creative Cloud products that constantly have updates.  I changed some Mail profiles for my work email, and needed to update them on the Mac. Between the two sets of updates, my computers spent hours cranking through data and were almost unusable.

Regularly the Windows machine goes through updates, and I detest the screen that says ("Windows has XX updates-please do not shut off or unplug computer").  The next morning when I turn on that computer, it may take another couple of reboots to get it working correctly.

Then there's the trusty Chromebook.

When I boot up in the morning, it takes about 10 seconds to get up and running.  All of the apps are basically available immediately.

I contrast that with my Mac-mini, which boots up quickly, yet because of all kinds of software that runs in the background, it may take a minute or two for my Mail program to download the newest emails and be ready to function (sometimes involving the "spinning beach ball" in the process).

My Windows machine with a Solid State Drive boots up a little quicker than the Mac-but not 10 seconds fast. It is not uncommon that it takes a minute or two to load all the necessary software before my Mail is ready to download.

And then there's the updates on the Chromebook.  They don't happen frequently, but when they do, there is an arrow that appears in the right corner of the screen, you click on it, the computer restarts, and in 30 seconds or less, everything is working correctly again.

In my younger days, going through updates with Windows 3.1 or one of the earlier MacBook's was a joyful challenge with a little bit of stress mixed in.

I have to admit, that after working with personal computers for over 30 years, I actually like the simplicity of the Chromebook, and the absence of stress.

Google Docs for Everyday Productivity

Will Google Docs do everything that Microsoft Word does? No.

Will it do most everything you need it to do? Probably.

What do most people use Word for? Writing letters, drafting emails and other documents.  All of the myriad of features that you find in Word are mostly there for power users.  It has way more features than I have learned to use and I have done some fairly complicated things with it.

Over the years I have laid out books, dissertations, and all kinds of PR materials using Word, but the vast majority of my work is nothing more than simple documents that I save to my hard drive or cut and paste into a website.

I have used Word in numerous office settings, from a newspaper to non-profits, to work with the state community college system, and back to the church.  What I discovered in all of these settings is that for most of the employees, we collectively used less than half of the features that come with Word (and less than 1/3 of the tools that come with Microsoft Office).

Some questions that people ask of Google Docs:

Is it compatible with Word?

In short-Yes. At the community college I was told that I could not use any other Word processing program, because it would not be compatible with the hardware on the campus network.  That just became a challenge and I frequently used Google Docs and iPages with my Mac to test the edges.  As far as I know, no one ever found out or cared what I was using.  You can export any Google Doc into Word, and back the other way. Are there occasional issues.   Sure.  But I have not found them to be formidable.

Can you insert images, tables, footnotes, etc. in Docs?

No problem.  The insert interface is easy and manageable.  Give it a test.  Inserting a footnote may actually be easier in Docs than Word.

Can you format fonts, etc.?

I have never found issues.  You have many of the standard fonts, plus a host of others.  You have all of the sizing capabilities an can even format text for web documents easily.  If you need to use other languages, there are some options that you can set-up in your account to do that.

Does it have easy to use templates?

It has a bunch of them available in the basic program.  You can run a search, and there are hundreds of them online for various projects.  Most all of them are customizable.  Not sure that you will need more than what is available.

Can you use it offline?

Yes.  It is completely possible to use Google Docs without an internet connection.  I will devote an entire article to that question at a later date


What are the drawbacks to Google Docs?

I am finding fewer every day I experiment.  If you are already a power user of MS Office, you will probably not want to switch.  For the money, Google Docs can hardly be beat as a word processor.

Summary: If I were to start a business, I would recommend that only folks who needed the extra features get computers that run Office, the rest of us would use the Chromebook with its own suite of tools. Docs being the most used of the bunch.  We would save money upfront, and we would already have networking tools available too us thanks to Google.

The Chromebook and the College Student

My son is a college senior, when he entered college, we made sure he had the computer he wanted- a MacBook.  He carried it all over campus for three years, he wrote lots of papers, did lots of research, played numerous games and listened to all kinds of music.  Then it crashed.  The folks at our local Mac repair shop suggested that a new motherboard for about $750 dollars would get it back up to speed.

He made a decision before he began his senior year that he was not going to repair it for about ¾ the cost of the original.  He went to Best Buy, saw the Chromebook for under $200 dollars, made quick calculations, and put his own, hard-earned money down.

He is about eight weeks from finishing his senior year, and h has been using that Chromebook to do everything he did with his Mac.  Does he miss the Mac? Yes, but not as much as he would have missed another $800+ dollars.

He was home for Spring Break last week, and I asked him some specific questions about his experience with his Chromebook, and here is what he said.

• The email experience has not changed. His campus uses a Gmail app for correspondence, so the Chromebook is ideally suited for that.
• Writing papers is not really that different with the Chromebook according to him.  He explained that doing footnotes and endnotes are completely possible and formatting to professors’ wishes are not a an issue, you just have to dig deeper in menus to make some of it happen compared to Word on the Mac.
• He uses it roughly the same way that he did his Mac for streaming media such as Netflix, YouTube, music stations and playing downloaded music. (he still keeps an ancient iPod that he uses for most of his music).
• The screen is small, and is a problem when he has to be at the laptop for hours at the time.  However, he uses workstations with larger monitor on campus regularly, signs into his Google account, and he is business. (His screen is about the same size as the lowest cost MacBook Air available ($899 dollars).  His old laptop was a 13 inch model MacBook and now costs $1299.
• He thinks battery life is one of the best factors of the Chromebook--he goes mostly all day with one charge, something he never got out of his old Mac.
• He uses Google Drive for keeping all of his files organized, and uses it regularly to print papers and documents from campus print stations.

He made some very practical decisions in his senior year of college--$800+ dollars in savings to use a piece of hardware that does almost anything he wants it to do means that much more in the food budget over the year.

Sunday Morning on Standard Time

Daylight Savings Time ended overnight.  My day just started, but it seems late already. Spring forward.

My regular pattern of getting up, showering and going to Sunday School was disrupted by a myriad of things, so I decided to drink some coffee at our local Starbucks (which amounts to a kiosk in a grocery store) and write a bit before I go to worship.

During many years as a pastor, this Sunday was always one of the worst of the year.  You lose an hour of sleep, you wake up a little jet-lagged, you show up to a congregation, and you quickly find out who didn't bother to change their clocks back (or you realize that many folks consider it a national holiday, and just don't get going).

It was on days like today that it would seem better to just phone it in.

And with the technology at our disposal, we could.

I personally don't recommend it for worship because I need to be in the presence of others when I make confession, when I pass the peace, and celebrate the sacraments.  Call me old-fashioned, but that's me.

On the other hand, I think of Christian education and formation as something that can be aided by technology. I think having a group of people in one space at a particular time is a good thing, but it is not the only way that education happens.

Over the years, I have done all kinds of things for classes and groups that I was leading when I was out of town or involved in another meeting.  Rather than postponing the class, or getting off of the lesson plan, I would create ways for the class to study the material without me being there.

Some examples:

• On numerous occasions, I videotaped (this was before digital media) me teaching or introducing the topic, and then giving directions for discussion.  My adult classes were very appreciative of this, and often said that the discussions were some of the best they had experienced at church.
• I have shared a "lesson plan" or a set of discussion questions with another member of the group who carried out a discussion during that group time.  I would make it a point to call or email the group during the week and get their feedback.
• I have called into a class or meeting and started the discussion by cell phone, and tried to participate from afar by conference call. This can be done using FaceTime, Google Hangouts, Skype or other means.
• Using Google Hangouts or Zoom, it would be easy to meet with the same small group without any of us being in the same place at the same time.  I have experienced a group Bible Study with 15 people using a paid conference call app.  It was not without its flaws, but we all met together without spending hundreds of miles on the road between us on Tuesday night.
• I have used free websites (Blogger, WordPress) as a depository of all of a class's discussions, a place to post links to articles and supplementary materials, and a discussion board. One might miss a class, but they could not say that they didn't know what was discussed at the last meeting.

This was low level technology that I have used over the last 20 years.  Imagine the possibilities if we harnessed the best of today's technology for Christian formation. (That's just what I plan to do in the coming months as a part of this experiment.)

Experiment Launched

I am not new to the Chromebook.  I am an early adopter.

Sometime during the first year that they were available (2011), I saw a bright red tag in Best Buy with the price of $149, and I jumped on it.

I used it as my personal laptop for a couple of years, until I bought a Macbook, and then the Chromebook was relegated to becoming the family TV laptop. (That's right, we do not have cable, and the Chromebook streams all kinds of shows and movies from Netflix, Hulu, YouTube, etc.)

That nearly 5 year old laptop is one of the most reliable devices I have ever owned.  It has not slowed down, and it actually does more than it could in 2011 because there are so many more apps and extensions than in the beginning.  (I can't say that about my Macbook which is starting to show its wear after three years, a couple of hardware updates, and an investment of $1000 before upgrades).

This experiment begins today with a new Chromebook.  Again, it was a bright red sale sign at Best Buy with a price tag of $149 that kicked it off.  The Lenovo 100S was on its way out of stock, and it was a solid product that I knew something about, so why not?

My wife would say that I have too many computers and devices already (and she would be right), but since this is a valid experiment, I am chalking it up to science.

So, here's the experiment...

• I am going to keep my new Chromebook handy, try to write every day, and put it through its paces as a competent replacement to one of my business computers (I have both Mac and Windows machines currently on my work desk).
• I will try and do some of the same things that I do every day in my work on the Chromebook, and compare the experiences.
• I will try things on my Chromebook that I have never tried before and report on my findings.
• Though I adopted the Chrome browser in its first months (Fall 2008), and have used various Google products for years, this experiment will look deeper at the applications and extensions available for this environment.

So, this writing project is off and running...on a new Chromebook.