LITTLEBLACKDOG.COM

Guide Dog Joined: 08 Nov 2003 Posts: 8371 Location: MN

Dear google,

I just saw and article saying you were bring offline ability to google docs to compete with Microsoft office live. Good for you, google gears has been out for ever now and you've implimented it in only one of your apps, and poorly at that. This isn't to say I don't appreciate what you've done to google reader, it is just worthless to spend 5 minutes online downloading all my new RSS feed articles when I could just spend 6 minutes online reading them... MAKE IT a SEEMLESS SWITCH like your planning on doing with google docs, (from what I've read)) then it might be useful.

Maybe more importantly I have to ask, Why aren't you doing this to Gmail... I mean it is the obvious place to use this, and ever since you released google gears people have been waiting for it. I know you think that this would make gmail more of a drain on your resources. I mean you live off the ads, and the ad revenue... but tell me how does the pop3 and imap support in gmail generate any of that... with gmail through google gears you could pull down the ads at the same time (seemlessly mind you, no one wants to wait for there email to sync any more.) and while I can't click them when I'm offline, you could always have a click on an ad queue it up for me to go to next time, send me an email reminding me I tried to click on it for me to "receive" next time I'm online. Or do you not plan on taking any of your apps offline unless it is to have the media say you are competeing against microsoft? because I got a suprise for you... They already have offline email, it is stored in a little app called outlook.

Really google I think that you need to focus on your web based apps a little more. I do appreciate you finially getting google reader setup to work with opera (after the first year it was up as I recall) but could you fix the google reader gadet for opera as well?

So long as your at it I noticed a google browser sync plugin for firefox, where I send all my settings to you and you store them and push them down to any other browser I happen to be at. Kinda a clever idea? yes. But lets remember you setup that nice google bookmarks site for me, why can't I sync my book marks to that? why do I have to sync them some where I can only access them if I sync them back down locally. Come on your supposed to be good with this web apps stuff.

lastly I know you have the google linux repository, which is cool becaues I can get picassa on my debian box really easy. Would you mind putting some of your other linux apps in there too? maybe google earth, and a linux version of Gtalk. I know the only benafits I'd get from using Gtalk over pidgin are the voice and video functions, but damn it I want to be able to use them.

all that being said, it is really nice of you to give me all of this for free, but if you could just tighten it up a bit across your apps that'd be great.

Thanks,

Anglachel

p.s. comments in the shared articles in google reader would rock.

next time: Dear Opera... why aren't you the most used web browser?

Posted: Wed Apr 23, 2008 9:49 am Post subject:

Adn while their at it, have google maps actually work more then once a day.