Stan Beer
Friday, 28 April 2006 05:47
Your IT -
Home IT
also see:
Microsoft says Open Office.org 10 years behind
and don't miss:
Linux desktop a viable alternative to Windows: poll
and
Microsoft Office users ready to jump ship: poll

Arriving on time at the iTWire embassy
After downloading Google's latest cool tool, Google Sketchup, I discovered what all the fuss was about. The free 3D drawing program which can be downloaded from google.sketchup.com takes minutes to download and is dead easy to use even for a beginner with absolutely no drawing experience. But, like Google Earth, please don't try to run it unless you have a computer with grunt.
As Google says, you need at least a Windows XP machine (a Mac version
is on the way) with at least a Pentium 4 running at 2 Ghz and 512M of
RAM to get reasonable performance out of the program acquired from
@Last Software. Take a hint from someone who has used it - double the
RAM. Otherwise you might find yourself in that nasty situation where
you will have to do a cold boot.
According to Google's blurbs, Sketchup an easy-to-learn 3D modeling
program that enables you to create 3D models of houses, sheds, decks,
home additions and woodworking projects. That's true if you have a
penchant for such things. What's more, Google, which seems intent on
thrusting its online storage capabilities into the faces of its users
at every opportunity, encourages Google Sketchup users to store their
drawings in its own online specialised data repository called 3D
Warehouse.
As a new user, I must say that this would have to be the easiest
drawing tool - 2D or 3D - I have ever encountered. The online help is
excellent and the user interface is simple, intuitive and uncluttered.
And for someone who has never had an ounce of drawing talent, that's
saying something. Download it but first upgrade your box.