Not too long ago, I got my new work laptop. A Dell D820, with one Kickass screen (1920 * ….) running windows XP. Nothing exciting there. Its one of those things you use for work and thats about it. Allthough it was nice to have a machine like that at home if I needed to do some windows-ie
stuff (only on the rarest of occasions). The one thing I did however
forget tot ask were administrator rights to the machine. I had forgotten
to ask permission for my user account to install applications on the
machine. So there I was with a brand new laptop.. and no playrights whatsoever.
The only (proper) thing installed on the machine was Firefox ( I’m serious , I don”t surf on IE as a matter of principale)
and that was actually enough. Because when you come and think of it ..
we don”t NEED not stinking applications. The combination of Firefox, some plugins
and the right mix of web based tools make me blurt out an evil laugh
and mumble ‘ Applications ? We don'”t need to stinking applications”. Am I right ? Am I wrong ? Ok I’ll put my money where my mouth is and show you the bacon.
Google apps and more. GO HERE .
Mail.
The
biggest part of my Web-based application story is situated at the
Googleplex. Lets face it. I’m a google slut. Being a cross platform,
computer hopping, desktop-less geek, having a service like this is
inevitable.
The fun starts out with GOOGLE FOR DOMAINS . that let me tie several of my Dns records to Google, thus all the email traffic directed at @knightwise.com is now handled by Google and I can access it using a Gmail Interface. This
lets me make up as many email addresses as I would like (there is a
limit there somewhere) and manage the whole email traffic for Knightwise.com.
Shared mailboxes, aliases, stuff like that ? all via the web interface.
An entire group-wise environment with zero applications installed.
I
used to run my own mail server and have a pop3 connector to pull in the
emails from my provider. But now i just need the Googleplex to take
care of me. With the ability tot POP3 email from other accounts INTO my
Gmail and the ability to access my email account both via POP and IMAP
make it a perfect solution. But we are talking web based apps here. So
Gmail does the trick for me. With the Google Gears application for Firefox I can even download my emails Offiline and use a web based application both offline and online. No more need for stinking applications. Even if you don”t use Google for domains you can use plain old GMAIL .
Contacts
All
my contacts are also stored on Google, Whenever I need them most (when
typing up an email) they pop out and I can use them. With Google’s Sync application I sync the contacts with my Blackberry and have everything in the palm of my hand.
Calendar.
Again
Google comes to the rescue:Using the Googleplex to do my calendaring
proves to be an excellent solution. I hook my Blackberry into my Gcalendar using the Google Sync application. Groupwise I tie in my calendar with Nyana’s
calendar and that way she always knows where I hang out. Any additions
to the calendar are sent over the air and I can use the calendar both
online and on my Blackberry. The only bummer of the whole sh-bang is
that Google calendar is not available offline yet. But they promised it
would only be a matter of time before google gears pulls it down to my
hard drive as well. Since they are using Icall standards I can send and receive appointments with other Gcal or even Ical users. If needed I sync up my work outlook to Gcal too and keep and over-the-air intermediate sync solution running without spending a dime.
Documents.
Do
I need to say more ? Google docs does all and more for me. Sure it
took some getting used to using the system, no more files and folders
and stuff, but the trade off is not that bad. I have my documents, config
files, blog posts (the drafts) and more all up there. Again google
gears presents me with an offline possibility to do what I need to do.
The fact that I have a web based word processor on any system I work
with is fantastic. Only using Firefox and the Google gears application i’m
presented with a pretty secure office-like environment to do my thing.
With the ability to upload “offline” documents to my Google Docs
account I have forgone my USB stick and put my entire library of documents (and books) in my GoogleDocs environment.
Chat.
Should Googletalk
(integrated in Gmail ) not suffice, I can fight the urge to install any and all chat clients
by just popping over to www.meebo.com where I can run a web based
version of any number of chat clients. Msn, Yahoo etc .. all there in the palm of my browser. With the firefox plug-in they provide I can even have Firefox automatically sign in to certain accounts, give me a sidebar and popup
screen when messages arrive. Still : Zero applications installed and
the corporate firewall bytes the dust. Twitter is an application that I
can of course access via the web interface . For Irc the perfect solution is mibbit.com . A web based service that lets me connect to any IRC server on the planet. Once again : BYTE ME mr firewall. Love it !
Feeds.
Who needs an application to read ones RSS feeds ? One could say Google reader , but since that is not yet integrated with Google for domains. So Newsgator does the trick for me. There is no point in reading RSS feeds offline, but having them sync up with some application like for example Feeddeamon or Netnewswire is not a bad thing.
Favorites.
What good is going online without your favorites. Foxmarks.com stores my favvies
online AND i have a FireFox plug-in that ties them into FireFox. Sync
up .. sync down . Bookmarks everywhere.. still zero applications.
As for looks and kicksI have gone for some nice Firefox extentions that give my “web based environment” a more clean cut look and feel.
Google Redesigned : Because THEMES have not come to Google for domains yett, this gives you a nice skin when you use Google.
Pitchdark Firefox theme : Nice and dark.
Oh Shit ! I can’t install Firefox ?
No need to worry , just download the PORTABLE VERSION of Firefox and run it from your usb thumbdrive.. without ever having to install a single application.