CyberFootprint

Leaving a mark in the blogosphere. Honza Felt takes on PR, marketing and career.

Why Do I Use GoogleApps?

Posted by on 7/27/09 • Categorized as Internet

googleappsA couple of days ago, I decided to start using GoogleApps (standard edition) for everything, including e-mail, calendar, contact base, and document storage.

Being already indoctrinated in use of Outlook and the rest of the MS Office suite, I expected the switch to be very difficult, at least when it came to usability and interface.

1) Superior e-mail options

We can all agree on the fact that G-Mail is the best service when it comes to e-mail. By using GoogleApps, you get the G-Mail interface and functionality combined with the professional-looking mail address of your domain. It is definitely true that you@yourdomain.com looks way better than you@gmail.com.

The only drawback I can think of is the lack of themes, which leaves the user interface somehow plain.

2) Synchronization across many platforms

GoogleApps can easily talk to your computer e-mail client, PDA or smartphone, and both of these devices can talk back. This 3-way synchronization suddenly turns you into “always on” mode. That’s perfect for business, but you have to fight the urge to set your laptop on fire, when going on holidays.

Another aspect I was pleasantly surprised with was the seamless uploading of my mail from Outlook, using Google’s lightweight utility. It took a few minutes, and there was no data distortion. When I connected my mail client to the GoogleApps mail, the messages were in the PC in a matter of seconds. Everything worked so well!

3) Price

Documents, e-mail, calendar, sites that can be used for intranet, contact base, and some more features. The system has it all. And it’s all for FREE! Microsoft certainly cannot compete with that!

There are also some arguments against using this service. We can take a look at those in some other post.

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  • Vita

    Good points, but I have to disagree with Gmail being superior to Outlook :-) I don’t see any major feature in Gmail that wouldn’t be matched by Outlook… But something to consider here – Outlook is more oriented for business users, whereas Live!Mail is meant for low-end (home) users,

    One of the biggest problems I find with Google Apps: security
    http://www.networkworld.com/news/2009/071509-theft-twitter-docs.html

  • http://www.cyberfootprint.eu Honza

    As for security, we both know that it’s got to do more with password strength, rather than technical aspect of the GoogleApps. On the other hand, you might be right, since you possess more in-depth knowledge than I do.

    One thing I’ve been missing in Outlook was a really good search capability that G-Mail has by default, so that’s why I’m using it now. Besides, G-Mail syncs with Outlook so well! It’s the best of both worlds. :-)

  • Vita

    Well, the problem is quite simple – one password gives you access to your e-mail and documents.
    Especially for Corporate users it poses a problem – a compromised password creates a vulnerability in both areas – email and documents, and for most part it does not matter where you log in from..

    In enterprises you usually get access only to your email via web (Outlook Web Access for instance) and so if a password is compromised only e-mail and calendars are compromised. The files, which reside on the server, are safe in this case, as you would have to be physically present at a computer of the company to access them. To access files, users would VPN in, from an approved laptop, again increasing level of control and security…

    I suppose that for companies GoogleApps might be problematic, but for the normal user, I think it is a great option that can simplify many things.

    One thing to check out (soon) is Office 2010, which will include some web-based apps (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote).. It is aimed at the Google Apps quite well… :-)

    http://www.microsoft.com/office/2010/
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Office_2010

    And as for the search, Windows Desktop Search 4.0 is quite an improvement ;-)

  • http://www.cyberfootprint.eu Honza

    As for big business security, when this site turns into a big business, you will be the first one to secure its data. :-) As I said, I love Outlook for its design, but I also love GoogleApps for its versatility, so for a blogger, like me, it’s a win-win situation.

    I’m looking forward for the Office 2010, although I barely got used to 2007 – price for late upgrading, I guess. It’s sad that I can’t take advantage of the student discounts for the next Office edition…