We’ve all seen it, and most of us are guilty of it at some time or another. We are creatures of habit: “I’ve always done it like that” is the familiar cry. For some reason, working with software seems to bring out the worst of this behaviour, and it’s usually a result of a lack of training, or sufficient time to familiarise yourself with possibly more efficient ways of doing things when you have a job to do.

I have for some years been promising myself to learn to touch-type. It would be so much more efficient! But I use a keyboard every day, and the thought of having to first slow down my typing in order to eventually be even quicker has always put me off.

Using Microsoft Word is another example – I can’t count the number of time I have seen users laboriously swipe text and apply bold or a different font for headings, when all they have to do is choose a heading style, such as Heading 1. It’s just down to a lack of awareness. At least with the later versions of Word this has been made easier, with the styles shown graphically on the ribbon toolbar.

And so it is with document software. This week I heard anecdotally about a specialist in a government agency that needed to pull together information provided to him in various formats – Word, Excel and some PDF files. In order to distribute them as a single report, he prints everything, collates and then re-scans using a photocopier that can scan to PDF. Not terribly efficient, and he ends up with 30 pages of scrap paper! He’s now switched to using gDoc Fusion, which happens to be the ideal software tool to do this task entirely electronically, and it will pay for itself in no time with the saving in effort and paper.

This is perhaps an extreme example but we all have our bad habits. We might even know there is a better way, but getting the work done gets in the way of learning how to get the work done quicker! Time to invest in yourself – perhaps some formal training, or sitting down with that colleague who “knows stuff”. Or just spending some time Googling for the answer can be well worthwhile.

Meanwhile, I promise to learn to touch-type. Soon…

Darren Hartwell from Bracknell is now the proud owner of a brand new Sony Vaio E Series laptop, with a free gDoc Fusion 2.5 license, following our recent Twitter competition. 

10 more lucky tweeters can now also merge multiple format files into one single document, through our easy to use simple drag and drop technology, thanks to their free copies of gDoc Fusion 2.5.

 gDoc Fusion 2.5 allows users to combine, merge and convert to PDF or Word over 200 incompatible document types, including spreadsheets, Word documents, Powerpoint slides, images and PDF files, in to one consolidated document ready for distribution.

Thanks to all of our loyal tweeters for taking part!

Here’s the full list of our lucky tweeters:

Winner:  http://www.twitter.com/BookZone

Runners up:  http://www.twitter.com/abitnerdy
 http://www.twitter.com/Nioniel
 http://www.twitter.com/Westers1401
 http://www.twitter.com/andrew_lillie
 http://www.twitter.com/Kerrianne_xx
 http://www.twitter.com/krains
 http://www.twitter.com/ChristianRocker
 http://www.twitter.com/melanie997
 http://www.twitter.com/medie
 http://www.twitter.com/tarnnie

I keep hearing the excitement about getting rid of “Desktop” applications and moving them all into the “Cloud”, and there are many benefits to be sure. However being able to see the “Cloud” when you travel can be a patchy affair.

On the plane I can’t get any internet connection (I don’t fly business class). In airports I still feel nervous about connecting to unknown WiFi spots (and it often costs money). My company smart phone has expensive roaming charges for data and so I try not to use it. The signal strength and bandwidth is not always guaranteed. Even at home my company smart phone has a terrible time trying to get any signal strength.

I have a traditional operating system on my laptop installed with “Desktop” applications. The lack of “Cloud” coverage does not dictate when I do my work, which is a key consideration for me. Many business travellers have to “kill” time while they wait in airports, train stations and sitting on aeroplanes. They read the newspaper, read a book or watch a range of films (chosen by someone else). The aim is to make the time pass so that they can get to their destination. As my time has been squeezed between work and family I have started looking at removing the concept of “killing” time.

I have replaced it with the concept of “investing” time. I get some work out of the way, write visit reports, compose emails and read documents. The new travel focused devices like the iPad will make this easier. I have contemplated using software to read business documents to an MP3 or CD so that I can listen to them on my two hour round trip to work (might be a good feature for gDoc Fusion). After I get back from my trip I can cash back the time that I “invested” and spend it with my family (at least that’s the theory). The thought of being barred from accessing my tools and data and being forced to go back to killing time some other way is something I find unacceptable.

To me the “Cloud” against “Desktop” application debate is analogous to the arguments for public transport (Cloud) against the car (Desktop). I can see all of the benefits of public transport but the car gives me personal freedom to make choices about how, when and in what manner I travel. If public transport becomes as easy to access as a car it will succeed. However I can’t see it succeeding if users have to change their pattern of travel to fit in.

Until the access to “Cloud” based applications gives me the personal freedom about when and where I can invest my time I’ll be sticking with “Desktop” applications and locally stored data. I won’t be giving up my car any time soon either.