Google Apps Review

Did you notice that Google Apps was released? Did you notice that the Google Documents Spell Checker has been broken for about a week? Bad timing eh?

I've been using the free Gooffice for about 4 months now for notes. My vote? It is impressive what they've done, but what they've really proven is that the functionality/price ratio for Word and Excel is most excellent.

Taking desktop functionality away is silly, Gooffice is all about sharing and collaboration, it is more a "sharepoint killer" than desktop replacement. Example 1: The Google document spell checker has been broken in IE for about a week now. Go for a week without a spell checker in Word then tell let me know what you think about online based desktop replacement apps. (side note: flip over to FireFox and spell check is working fine, there is a javascript error in the IE version of Google's spell check code). On the flip side? Create a document and e-mail it to four people, ask each of them to change one sentence and send their change back to you. Then see how long it takes you to merge the changes. Now go to goofice, upload a word document and share it with four people, revel in the online change integration.

Also in Googles defense I will say that GMail and Calendar have been rock solid. Google calendar can even create and reply to Outlook/Exchange calendar notices and support apparently unlimited shared calendars with appointment reminders via SMS. People who already have Outlook are not going to get anything from it, but new businesses looking for shared calendaring could be better off than small business exchange based solutions.

Making fun of some things and sense of others

From indexed.blogspot.com

Things that make you say hmmm...

Scientists offered cash to dispute climate study (The Guardian Guardian Unlimited): "Scientists and economists have been offered $10,000 each by a lobby group funded by one of the world's largest oil companies to undermine a major climate change report due to be published today.
Letters sent by the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), an ExxonMobil-funded thinktank with close links to the Bush administration, offered the payments for articles that emphasise the shortcomings of a report from the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)."

A noteworthy story:

- Has a catchy headline

- Seems sensational on first glance

- Raises questions about the topic without actually saying the activity is wrong.

- Contains a nice polar bear picture

Early Adopter Woes

One of the issues with being an early adopter of a new Operating Systems is compatibility with exiting applications. Why? The app vendors need a bit of time to get their software updated to be fully compatible with the new OS.

If the company has a serious desire to promote their product they can get involved during the beta phase to work out bugs and ensure a smooth transition for early adopters. But what if the app vendor doesn't really care if the new OS succeeds? What if the app vendor may actually benefit from a difficult transition, say for example if the app vendor makes a competing operating system? Say, someone like Apple...

Item from InformationWeek:
Windows Vista May Corrupt iPod Music Players, Apple Says

Upgrading to Vista may result in the inability to play songs purchased from the online iTunes store; other problems 'may corrupt your iPod,' Apple warns. Apple Computer is warning customers who use the Windows version of its iTunes software to hold off upgrading to Windows Vista until it can release a patch to fix a number of serious compatibility issues, one of which could result in a corrupt iPod player.

Apple, in a statement posted Thursday on its Web support forum, says upgrading from Windows 2000 or Windows XP to Vista may result in the inability to play songs purchased and downloaded to the desktop iTunes player from its online iTunes store. Worse, however, is the problem that iPod users could encounter if they try to eject their digital music player from a desktop port using the "Safely Remove Hardware" feature found on the Vista system tray. That, Apple warns ominously, "may corrupt your iPod." Apple says the safe way to undock an iPod from a Vista-equipped PC, until a patch is released, is to be sure and use the "Eject iPod" control in the iTunes software. Apple says the problems will be fixed when it releases the next version of iTunes "within a few weeks." Until then, PC-using iPod customers could experience a number of other problems if they're running Vista, including contacts and calendars that won't synch with their iPods and problems making changes to iPod settings.

In the meantime, some users report that they can get downloaded iTunes songs to play on Vista if they right-click on the iTunes.exe program, select Properties, click on the Compatibility tab, and check "Run This Program As An Administrator."