There have been some major updates recently to the Google range of Online applications. First of all came a major update to
Google Apps in a timely manner to compete with the launch of Office 07. As a small business who wouldn't be tempted by,
...and get on with business.
It's all hosted by Google, so there's no hardware or software to install or download, and minimal setup and maintenance. You can get up and running quickly, even if you don't have technical resources.
New! Try Google Apps Premier Edition for free through April 30th, 2007.
Then recently I noticed a whole load of improvements to
Gmail. The junk mail filters on Gmail have always been top notch in my opinion but now there's a fantastically easy method of implementing message rules which makes organising your email very easy to. What's more you can now use Gmail as a webmail interface for multiple email accounts which means you can pick up your business mail on the move, oh and it works really well on a mobile to so who needs a blackberry or oversized phone/pc thing. And just another mention of the junk mail filters, I occasionally find the odd legitimate email has strayed into my junk box but I think I can honestly say hand on heart it's caught every last bit of spam thrown at it and for that Google should surely receive some sort of medal of honour.
Google have also just released an update to
Google desktop. Originally pitched as just a replacement for the crappy search option offered by Windows, Google desktop has expanded somewhat recently to become so much more. The implementation of gadgets/widgets or whatever you want to call them in previous versions of desktop offers XP users a Vista like desktop experience without having to upgrade and although most are just pretty I've found the "To Do" list and "Scratch Pad" very useful. The latest update (version 5 I think) starts to give us a real glimpse at what Google are trying to achieve here though.
Access my gadget content and settings like To Do lists, Scratch Pad notes, favourite stocks, and more from any computer.
Index and search my documents and viewed web pages from across all my computers.
(This feature transmits the text of your indexed files to Google Desktop servers for copying to your other computers.
Both the above new options require a Google account.
So Google is slowly creeping its way into all aspects of my computer experience and I'm buying into it slowly because it's doing it all so damn well.
Labels: Desktop, Gmail, Google, Google Apps
