Google Releasing an Office Suite:
"Google Apps for Your Domain is Google's entrance into the office productivity world, but contrary to popular expectations, the company is not shipping word processor or spreadsheet for corporate use just yet. Google, Inc. bundled e-mail client (Gmail), shared calendaring environment (Google Calendar), instant messaging client (GTalk) and HTML page generator (Google Page Creator) to be used across specific domains. The service will be ad-supported, reports the Associated Press.'"
(Via Slashdot.)
I just signed up for this service. For adnanwasim.com. The most exciting thing will be the use of Gmail. Right now they are not even in beta yet, they will email when it reaches beta. If Google can handle this right, I think this might be really big. This is an appealing package for small businesses that are having problems with spam, or problems with keeping their mailboxes in sync with clients like eudora/outlook and webmail. Gmail will give them an amazing interface to work with. Plus if they enable POP access like they do with normal gmail accounts, you have a local copy of your mails. Ofcourse, not every small business is going to feel comfortable giving Google control of their corporate email/calendering/IM.
I remember Microsofts Live having some such feature, whatever happened to that? Why don't they market better? And speaking of marketing, Scoble is all angry at the way Google released this news:
Google sticks its toe into enterprise waters (is Google hiding from bloggers?):
"I can’t find a single blogger who got leaked this information along with the big-city newspapers."
(Via Scobleizer - Microsoft Geek Blogger.)
Since Om was contacted, is their now a distinction between bloggers and professional journalist bloggers being made? Or is Om not a blogger?
