A Google staff member posted a video on YouTube demonstrating a particular Google Spreadsheet function today, but when she selected a file format to launch – there was a new option on the drop down menu. Called Punch, the video made no mention of the file type and we’ve been unable to find any mention of it elsewhere. Internally, at least, it appears that something very new is in the works at Google Docs.
Alex Chitu of independent watchdog blog Google Operating System caught the very fuzzy image in the video and takes a stab at what it might be.
“One of the definitions of the word ‘punch,'” Chitu writes, “is ‘an iced mixed drink usually containing alcohol and prepared for multiple servings; normally served in a punch bowl’. Maybe Google Punch is a free-form document that lets you combine data from other documents, spreadsheets, presentations and forms. What do you think?”
That sounds like a viable guess to us. Perhaps a Punch is a mix of functions and content intended for collaboration, more than for posting publishing like Google Pages is. That could prove very useful. A multi-media document space, with real-time information flow, Wave, voice and Unicorns? That’s probably what it is.
It’s possible that Google Punch is being tested internally and will never see the light of day, but it’s also very possible that we’ll find out soon what it does. We’ve asked Google for comment, but we don’t expect the company to tell us much yet.
