After careful consideration, I've decided to move my entire "work" life - my email, calendar, to-do list, and documents - into Google.
I've tip-toed around the commitment for awhile and decided to take the plunge last week. I'm still waiting on the Kenan-Flagler IT people to resolve a mail forwarding issue - otherwise I'm already settled in and getting comfortable...and wondering why I didn't do this a long time ago.
Truth be told, inspiration for the move came from the good people at Shoeboxed. They run their entire office (mostly) through Google apps and seem to do pretty well. For the 4 weeks I was there on a regular basis this summer, I only used MS Office for a couple complicated spreadsheets - everything else went through Docs. Couldn't believe how easy and productive it was...
For now, I foresee two problems with the changeover. One - the "to-do list" add-on I plugged into iGoogle is much weaker than iCal's feature. (Wonder why Google Calendar doesn't have a built-in to-do list feature? Am I missing something?) Two - I'll need to work out the attachment issue. Invariably, I'll have to share a document with a classmate or professor that doesn't use Docs and/or will prefer to use MS Office. I'll figure it out as I go...
So it is "so long" to the Thunderbird/iCal/MS Office combo I've used for the past few years - at least "mostly so long" to MS Office, I hope. The juggling act was a little clunky at times, but I grew to love it. I guess I'll miss the flying bluebird icon that has so cheerfully and dutifully delivered my mail for the past couple years, but I sure as heck won't miss opening and managing so many attachments locally.
Plus, I'll retain the smug satisfaction of not using Outlook in a school addicted to Microsoft's productivity soma.
I've tip-toed around the commitment for awhile and decided to take the plunge last week. I'm still waiting on the Kenan-Flagler IT people to resolve a mail forwarding issue - otherwise I'm already settled in and getting comfortable...and wondering why I didn't do this a long time ago.
Truth be told, inspiration for the move came from the good people at Shoeboxed. They run their entire office (mostly) through Google apps and seem to do pretty well. For the 4 weeks I was there on a regular basis this summer, I only used MS Office for a couple complicated spreadsheets - everything else went through Docs. Couldn't believe how easy and productive it was...
For now, I foresee two problems with the changeover. One - the "to-do list" add-on I plugged into iGoogle is much weaker than iCal's feature. (Wonder why Google Calendar doesn't have a built-in to-do list feature? Am I missing something?) Two - I'll need to work out the attachment issue. Invariably, I'll have to share a document with a classmate or professor that doesn't use Docs and/or will prefer to use MS Office. I'll figure it out as I go...
So it is "so long" to the Thunderbird/iCal/MS Office combo I've used for the past few years - at least "mostly so long" to MS Office, I hope. The juggling act was a little clunky at times, but I grew to love it. I guess I'll miss the flying bluebird icon that has so cheerfully and dutifully delivered my mail for the past couple years, but I sure as heck won't miss opening and managing so many attachments locally.
Plus, I'll retain the smug satisfaction of not using Outlook in a school addicted to Microsoft's productivity soma.