BACKGROUND

It’s September 2010. We are more than halfway through the year, and most of us are neck-deep in attempting to successfully synchronize our email, calendars, and documents between multiple computers, users, and smartphones.

Many users now have the following needs:

• Synchronize calendars between multiple computers, users, and smartphones.
• Share contacts between multiple computers and users.
• Share documents between multiple computers and users, with permissions control.
• Access all of your calendars, emails, documents from any computer or smartphone.
• All of the above without the installation (and costs) of a centralized server.

Apple’s MobileMe does a good job of synchronizing between multiple computers and iPhones for individual users, but it’s not a solution for a group or organization.

There are Internet Service Providers that offer MS Exchange server services as well as Zimbra and other commercial offerings to provide solutions. In the right environment they work well, but often require constant monitoring by an IT professional.

I will be focusing on an alternative that I believe may well be “The Solution” for the next 5 years - the combination of Google Apps and iGoogle.


IGOOGLE

iGoogle provides a start page from which you can view all of your Google Apps. iGoogle is fully customizable, with almost a thousand Google Gadgets to choose from. Here is my personal page (I have another for business):



To a large degree, this allows you to receive and send email, view and edit your calendar, and access all of your documents from one web page. But iGoogle is just a single page. What really makes this a solution are the apps.


WHAT ARE GOOGLE APPS

Google Apps provides a suite of services that are hosted on Google servers. All are web-based and accessed via your web browser. All data and documents are stored on the Google servers as well. This creates a double-edged sword. On the plus side you are able to access all of your data from any computer or smartphone with Internet access, no need for backups, reliability is better than an on-site server, costs are dramatically reduced from an in-house solution. On the minus side you must be Internet connected for most of the services to function (calendar and contacts may be synchronized to your local iCal and Address Book). Any documents you create or upload, as well as any calendars you create may be shared with either read only or read/write permissions to as many other Google account holders as you wish.


GOOGLE APPS GMAIL

My favorite feature of Gmail is the unique manner in which you may organize your messages. In all other email clients, organization is done by folder. Mac Mail expands upon this with smart mailboxes. With Gmail, all messages are saved in just one folder. But each message my have an unlimited number of labels assigned to it. Each label appears as a folder in the Gmail side bar. Clicking on one of these label folders displays all messages with the assigned label. In this way, Gmail labels function much like Mac Mail smart folders.

Why use Gmail?

• Access your email from any computer or smartphone that is connected to the Internet.
• Virtually unlimited storage.
• Free.
• Searchable using a built-in Google search engine.
• Instead of organizing your email by folder, each email can be organized by assigning an unlimited number of labels.
• Best-of-Class spam and virus protection.
• Able to integrate your existing email address.
• Able to integrate with your existing email client application.

Why not to use Gmail?

• You don’t want your email managed by a monolithic corporation (I find monolithic corporations can be every bit as evil or good as an individual).
• You have concerns that your email, even when deleted, may always be in the bowels of a great Google database.
• You need sophisticated automated processing of your messages. Gmail includes rudimentary filtering and rules, but nothing close to Mail app.

When viewed from iGoogle, Gmail provides the same view as that on an iPhone:



Though you can perform all email functions from this window, it can be expanded into the full Gmail screen:


GOOGLETALK (CHAT)

While you are in the Gmail application or your iGoogle Start Page, you have access to GoogleTalk - Google’s implementation of an Instant Messaging (chat, audio, vido) client. Nothing terribly unique with GoogleTalk that you don’t already have with any of the other major players (Apple iChat, Yahoo IM, or AOL IM), but again, it’s great to have it all in one place.


GOOGLE CALENDAR

Google Calendar is one of the most useful tools. Not only is this a full-featured calendaring system, but you are able to select who has the ability to view and edit your events, or only view your free/busy times. Add to this the ability to view and edit your events on your smartphone (iPhone, Blackberry, Windows Mobile) and you have a complete calendaring solution.

When viewed from iGoogle, the calendar provides the same minimalist view as from a smartphone, with full functionality:



This view can be expanded to the full Google Calendar view:


Take note from the above image that I am able to see Cindy’s calendar, as well as three Google public calendars.

Why use Google Calendar?

• Full-featured individual and group calendar.
• Each user can have an unlimited number of calendars.
• Each calendar can have unique read and edit permissions.
• Google Calendar can synchronize with iCal and other CalDAV calendars.
• Google Calendar can synchronize with your iPhone, Blackberry, or Windows Mobile phone.

Why not use Google Calendar?

• Hmmm. I’m still working on this!

Creating An Event

1. From iGoogle Google Calendar widget, click the Add button:



2. This will display the Quick Add field. Enter the date and time and short description of the event.
- You can either click Quick Add to immediately add the event to your calendar,
or click the Edit Details link to flesh out the details.



3. Click the Edit Details link. Complete to taste.
- NOTE: If you add Guests, your guests calendar will automatically add the event.


4. Click the Save Changes button. The event is added to your Google Calendar:




GOOGLE TASKS

Google Tasks are the equivalent of iCal To-Do’s. Tasks have the advantage of being hierarchical. When a higher-level task is checked as completed, all subordinate tasks are checked as well. Though you can have an unlimited number of Task Lists (perhaps business, personal, family lists), only one list can be displayed at a time.




Creating a Task

1. From iGoogle start page Tasks gadget, click the “+” button. A new empty Task field will appear.



2. Enter your task information.



3. To enter another task, press the Return key. To enter another subordinate task, press the Return key, then the Tab key.


GOOGLE DOCS

Google Docs is one of the more interesting aspects of Google Apps. It serves as a replacement for an office application suite. Word processing (document), spreadsheet, presentation, and form generation applications are all web-based, and the documents you create are initially stored on Google’s servers, though they can be exported to your computer.

The document and spreadsheet apps are perhaps 95% compatible with MS Office documents. On occasion you will find a sophisticated MS document that when uploaded to Google Docs is modified in a peculiar way. An exported document or spreadsheet can be opened by MS Office without modification.

The presentation app isn’t quite as good. If your PowerPoint presentation is fairly sophisticated, with transitions, animations, and sounds, etc., you may find that when uploaded these have been stripped out. An exported Google presentation should play as designed in PowerPoint.

Why use Google Docs?

• No need to purchase an expensive, bloated, dysfunctional office suite.
• Simple user interface, with all of the functionality the vast majority of users will need.
• Updates are automatic.
• Documents are stored on Google servers, no need for backup.
• Good collaborative capabilities with full read and edit permissions control.
• Good compatibility with both MS Office and OpenOffice/NeoOffice suites.

Why not to use Google Docs?

• You have sophisticated word processing or spreadsheet requirements that are beyond the scope of Google Apps.
• You have sophisticated PowerPoint presentations that will not convert well to Google Presentation app.

Creating a Google Doc

1. From the iGoogle start page Google Doc gadget, select the Add link.
2. From the pop-up menu, select the desired type of document (in this example, document).



3. This will open Google Docs in a new window.



4. Create your document to taste.
5. Click the Save button to save your document.
6. If you want others to have access to your document, click the Share > Share with others button/drop down menu.



7. Select Invite people as collabors. Enter the email addresses of those you want as collaborators (edit permissions), then click the Invite collaborators button.



8. Select Invite people as viewers. Enter the email addresses of those you want as viewers (read permissions), then click the Invite viewers button.


WHAT ELSE DOES GOOGLE APPS OFFER

How about close to 1,000 gadgets! Any of which can be just 1-click away on your iGoogle start page.


JUST HOW FREE IS GOOGLE APPS

Google Apps comes in several flavors:

• Free. Available for individuals.
• Free Standard Edition. Available for groups under your own domain name.
• Free Education/Not-for-profit Edition. Same as the for-fee Premier Edition. Provides telephone support.
• $50/year/user Premier Edition. Provides telephone support.

For individual users, you have only one option. Though this leaves you without direct Google telephone support, your collaborative needs will be minor, and all of your technical issues should be easily handled by a competent computer consultant.

For small groups, business, and all other organizations, I say go with the Premier edition. Having access to telephone support will be invaluable as your collaborative needs become more sophisticated.

Starting to think that Google Apps may be The Solution for you or your organization? Please feel free to contact me directly to discuss this option.

Tags: Google, email, calendar, collaborate