It may not seem like a big thing. I have generally preferred clients (apps and RIAs) to browser-based Internet tools. But, yesterday after years of Outlook, Eudora, Mozillamail, Thunderbird and MacMail I closed my mail client and am using the Gmail interface in FireFox. Partly this is a self-enforced discipline to see how well the Google@Brookes mail, contacts, calendar, tasks and chat integration work. I am particularly interested to see, after going off-line, as I often am, whether the offline mail app stands up. So far you can only view, not update calendar entries offline (a weakness, in Google's offering). But, having said it is not a big thing, I feel a sense of excitement (why?!) maybe born of renewal. In doing this I tided up my browser, killed off Diigo, Amplify and Twine, and went back (almost) wholeheartedly to Delicious (well they are owned by Yahoo). I made a new set of tabs for start-up: mail, calendar, Wave, Reader, and JISC Institutional Innovation. It is as if my computer is new again.
rWorld2 