Thanks, Google, for letting me tinker

My friend Trek and I love to rant about a Microsoft. Usually our biggest complaints have nothing to do with their propensity for creating and leveraging illegal monopolies or their fondness for DRM, but instead on how their software creates a "Microsoft Way" of working. If you don't work in a way that fits theirs, you can basically go to hell. For example, try and convince Outlook 2003 to let you write your replies below quoted text or write solely in plain text e-mail¹. One of the hardest parts of teaching people how to use Macs and Web applications isn't teaching them interface quirks, but teaching them to use widgets the way they look like they should work. It's an exercise in un-learning Windows weirdness.

One of the reasons I'm a big fan of Google is that their applications let you work the way you want--not the way a bunch of researchers say most people do.

Some examples:

1. After 10 years as a Yahoo! Mail and Hotmail subscriber, I still can't use an e-mail client. Gmail not only provides access, but gives step-by-step instructions for a number of clients².
2. Google Talk uses Jabber, which integrates with iChat (and essentially every other IM application).
3. Google Docs can export in a ridiculous number of formats, including the OpenDocument.
4. Google Calendar integrates seamlessly with iCal, both getting data out, and putting it in³.
5. I'm a big fan of OmniWeb, and I get really sick of crappy browser detect scripts saying they don't know what to do with my perfectly capable but rare browser. At least Google gives me a chance to try. Google Docs provides the following error message to Safari users:

   If you are working to fix problems with a specific browser and would like to bypass this check, just add &browserok=true to the end of the Google Docs & Spreadsheets url.

   Please note that it is a violation of intergalactic law to use this parameter under false pretenses, so don't let us catch you at it.

   And, it won't work very well — really.

Of course, full support is nice, but if you don't believe them, at least they let you they try.

My office follows the Microsoft theory: if I want to check my e-mail off-site I have to do it through Outlook Web Access. Would I check e-mail after work hours in case something urgent occurrs? Of course. Do I? No. I'd be happy to give that little bit of extra effort, but it's got to mesh with the way I work. Google gets it.

Thanks.

Notes

1. Both of these techniques are considered good netiquette, but are poorly supported in mainstream-user technology.
2. Gmail gets a double-plus for usingSSLencryption by default. Most users have no idea how dangerous public wireless can be _without_ SSL.
3. Putting events into Google Calendar with iCal requires some work. Publish your calendars--to your own WebDav server, .Mac or [iCal Exchange](http://icalx.com/), then subscribe to them in Google Calendar.