OCR (optical character recognition) fans that are frustrated with the current offering of online services may be pleased to learn that Google Docs will now grab text from images and PDFs quickly and cost free. According to the blog Google Operating System , the new feature has quietly been pushed live by Google after several months of experimentation and development, but will it replace commercial software or online solutions? Sponsor When uploading files to their account, Docs users will now see an option to run an OCR scan, which will extract characters and place them within a new text document. As far as accuracy goes, PDFs fair much better than images, especially basic black text on a white background. I uploaded a picture of my business card and Google Docs had trouble recognizing the largest text and clearest text on the card, but surprisingly did better with smaller text. A test of a PDF document turned up nearly perfect recognition results, but Google Docs strips nearly all of the formatting out, spewing out the text in a stream of letters and spaces. Other examples from Google Operating System produced decent results, but far from perfect or useful. Additionally, when scanning a PDF, Google Docs does not save a copy of the PDF, so scanning to text and saving an original file requires two separate uploads. This feature is great for casual OCR users that want to quickly grab text from PDFs and some images or business cards. Those who rely on OCR heavily will likely be disappointed with the features and may have better results with commercial solutions. Discuss

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Info-Tech Research Group released its evaluation of enterprise collaboration software earlier this year. Microsoft ‘s Office SharePoint Server 2007 and Open Text ‘s Open Text Social Media 7 won the highest praise. But as worker expectations change, there’s clearly room for competition on usability. Sponsor Info-Tech evaluated the following solutions: Drupal – Drupal 6.0 with Acquia EMC – CenterStage IBM – Lotus Quickr 8 Jive – Social Business Software (SBS) 4.0 Microsoft – Office SharePoint Server 2007 Open Text – Open Text Social Media 7 (This product is now called Open Text Social Workplace) Socialtext – Socialtext 4.0 The products were evaluated for collaboration features, content features, affordability, usability and company strength. It highlighted Open Text Social Media 7 and Microsoft Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 as the best of the products reviewed. CenterStage, Quickr, and Socialtext were classed as “contenders.” And it described Drupal and Jive as “Vanguard” – products that will appeal in particular niches. Microsoft Sharepoint screenshot Info-Tech gave Sharepoint three out of three stars for usability – and it was the only software reviewed to receive that distinction. As both an end-user and administrator of Sharepoint, I found that surprising. Microsoft’s made some inroads with Sharepoint 2010, but if Sharepoint features the best usability the market has to offer, then there’s a huge opportunity for competitors. Open Text Social Workplace screenshot According to Info-Tech, “OTSM provides a collaboration product in the workplace that is as intuitive as the collaboration tools employees use at home.” That’s a telling statement. Enterprise software has a long history of being tedious and cumbersome. As employees become accustomed to the sleek interfaces of Web and mobile applications they use at home, enterprise software with poor usability will become only more tiresome. Microsoft dominates the market; 71% of the organizations Info-Tech surveyed were using Sharepoint. IBM trails with with 6% of organizations using Lotus Quickr. To compete with the giants, companies will need offer enterprises competitive advantages in order to distinguish themselves. Better usability can reduce training costs, increase worker productivity, and improve employee satisfaction. Vendors who can offer enterprises these competitive advantages will be at a significant advantage. And they might make work more pleasant while they’re at it. Sharepoint screenshot via Microsoft , Open Text Social Media screenshot courtesy of Open Text . Discuss

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