Online Applications

Much has been written about the increasingly blurry line between the desktop and the web. I find that more and more people don't care, and don't need to care, where their computing is taking place. People like my mother, who thinks of Yahoo! Mail as "her" email program, even though it's located on a server hundreds of miles from her home. I'm writing this document using Google Docs & Spreadsheets (who's in charge of naming things at Google, anyway?), not because I don't have a perfectly good word processor installed on my laptop but because I want to be able to edit it later on my work computer and the whole thing's going to end up online in Blogger eventually anyway.

So, I thought I'd start an occasional series of posts about the online apps that I personally find useful. I like to experiment, so I've used quite a few of them but most quickly become more trouble than they're worth. To qualify for regular use, an application has to meet a need and not add to my workload (I don't multi-task all that well). Oh yeah, and they almost always have to be free.

First up is Google. Most of you know it's not just a search engine anymore. In fact, the number of programs that come hurtling out of Google Labs is pretty astonishing. Let's start at the top, with the Google Home Page. The classic Google Home Page is a model of simplicity:

By selecting Personalized Home, you can customize the home page, not just to look different, but also to serve as a launching pad for many online applications. Here's a condensed screen shot of my home page:

From here, I can access the big 3 of personal information management: email/contacts, calendar and the todo list. Two of these programs - Gmail and Google Calendar - are native to Google and the third (a task management program called Remember the Milk) integrates with the Google home page using a widget. This combination gives me 80% of the functionality of Microsoft Word and Outlook, accessible from any computer with an Internet connection, anywhere in the world.

To get started, go to the Google home page and sign in. Strictly speaking, you don't need an account to create a personalized home page but you will need one to use any of Google's other services, like Gmail and Calendar. If you don't have a Google account, you can create one from the sign in page. Then, click the Personalized Home Page link and start adding stuff (really, the link is called "Add Stuff"). Experimentation is the name of the game and it may take a little while to find a layout that works for you.

Next time I come back to this topic, I'll talk a bit about Gmail and Google Calendar. BTW, I recently read that Gmail no longer requires an invitation to sign up. It's open to everybody, even though the logo still says beta.