Google Apps – Part 2: Initial Thoughts About Google
I am a fan of Google. I use Reader – one of the best RSS readers around, Blogger, iGoogle – and all kinds of great gadgets on the page, Google Mobile, and Bookmarks. All of these services work great and under one log in. I use Reader and iGoogle all of the time as they are the mainstay of my digital life.
I started using a bit of Google Docs to keep some documents that I use at home and away. These are items like my investment research and performance trackers. This made my life easier as I can access these document anywhere I happen to be when a trading idea pops into my head. Google finance keeps a watch list for me but I have found other finance sites to be more useful.
The News application is another winner in my opinion but I am not sure about the Notebook application yet. I have started to use it but I am not sure that it is driving me any real value. I will give it some more time.
Later on today, I am going to setup a Google Apps account and start to configure it for the family. I need to change the MX records on my domain so e-mail will flow to the Google Apps account. I really do believe this is the wave of the future.
Google makes functional software that works for people. They do not make the “Best Looking” software but it is functional and clean. This is a great strength for them as other software companies try to port elegant looking software to the web but suffer from a lack of functionality – yes, I am talking about Adobe. Wow, did they miss it on Acrobat.
The links below are to my other posting about Google’s applications and services.