But, I didn't mean this to be as google bash, sorry 40hz.
-cmpm
No apologies needed. I didn't think you were.
And even if it
were a Google bash, I wouldn't have a problem with that.
Google is one of those perpetually frustrating organizations as far as I'm concerned. They have (or by now it's maybe more like
had) a golden opportunity to become something truly great and ennobling as far as web technology was concerned.
Unfortunately, they seem to have turned away from that vision over the years. Maybe it was inevitable that they had to do so. But it still makes me wonder what things might have been like if Google kept to the high road as much as they claim they try to.
You are showing what google services we are missing....
-cmpm
Ah...thank you for seeing that!
There's a big difference between an FYI - which is what I intended this to be - and a
personal endorsement. This is not an endorsement. It's just an acknowledgment (probably more to myself than anybody else) that things like Google and
cloud computing are too big to ignore - and here to stay. And to simply go about your life ignoring them accomplishes little other than to put you at a disadvantage.
The thing that motivated me to post this in the first place was an article by Michale Lankton on the
Connected Internet site.
I'm one of those people that doesn't really like the idea of doing all my important things up on the web. I could write an essay on why, but most people here are savvy enough to see the obvious risks (security, accessibility, service downtime, etc.) that there's little point in writing about what's already well understood.
One line in Lankton's article, however, triggered what amounted to an epiphany (of sorts) for me. In answer to why he finally embraced Google Apps he said:
Because my need for synchronization finally outweighed my need to be a software connoisseur.And the truth found in that simple statement forced me to reevaluate my entire way of thinking about web-based technologies. Lankton chose to use the word "synchronization." But what I think he was really getting at was the need for something I prefer to call
ubiquitous access.
Ubiquitous access is the unrestricted ability to get at "your stuff" without regard to access platform or the technology employed to store your data. Think of it as "Anything-Anytime-Anywhere" and you've got it down.
We used to be told that it wasn't necessary to know everything
so long as you knew where to go to find the information you needed.
Ubiquitous access has a lot in common with that philiosophy.
But enough of me! Read Lankton's article for yourself.
It might not make you happy. But sometimes being
unhappy is also the sign of being
aware.
Why 2009 Was The Year I Broke Down And Sold My Soul To Google
Michael Lankton | Feb 03, 2010 |
I am somewhat obsessive compulsive. I spend a lot of time researching things that I am interested in. It may be an upcoming electronics purchase, or perhaps I just discovered Malaysian food and now I am methodically visiting all the Malaysian restaurants within driving distance to determine who has the best Char Kway Teow. It is something that usually maddens my spouse, but on the odd occasion gets me a pat on the head for being a genius.
My obsession with operating systems and GUIs has been going on for about 16 years now. I suppose I am no different with software than I am anything else, and a great deal of time goes into deciding which software I use for a given task.
I have been using a Mac at home since early 2002. I have felt that the apps I use on the Mac are superior to their equivalents on the Windows and various unix platforms running X. Better in function, better in form, just better. In the case of my mail client, this is the same mail client I’ve been using since 1997. I have tried other programs over the years, but nothing has supplanted it on my desktop.
Until recently that is.
In 2009 I abandoned the email, calendar, and feed reader applications I’ve been using and started using Google’s web apps.
Why would someone who values good design, simplicity, visual elegance, and good performance switch from using local apps to web applications? Especially when I have always been one for taking functionality out of the web browser and reducing it to the bare function of being simply a web browser?
Because my need for synchronization finally outweighed my need to be a software connoisseur.
...
Link to full article:
http://www.connected...d-my-soul-to-google/ 
