Thing # 18: On-line Productivity Tools

This was an interesting thing to do. I have been getting acquainted with Google and all it has to offer during the course of Library2Play. But, in this activity, I really saw how it is all tied together. It is pretty amazing. I was able to see that I could use Google for basically everything I do on my computer. I use Google for searches. I can make all kinds of documents using Google Documents: Powerpoints, Excel, plain text, etc. I can make calendars using Google Calendars. I can send and receive e-mails using Google Mail. I can have an on-line photo album and view others' albums and pictures using Google Photos. I can easily view the sites I look at the most using Google Reader. I can even make my very own Web site (I have got to do that one of these day!) using Google Sites. Currently, I use Yahoo for mail and Word for my document making. I have used Flickr for my on-line photo album. Each time I switch from one of these to another, I have to many times log in and out of each. And sometimes, I get logged out because while I was in another application, I took too long and the other program I had opened on my desktop logged me out. If I use Google for all of these things, I only have to log in one time. And I can only get logged out of one application. Once I log back in, I can switch back and forth to all of them easily without having to worry about being logged out and having to log back into each and every one. Also, I can view all of the different Google things in a nice menu that allows me to visually keep track of all my things. This is not the case with using various different programs as I am currently doing. I am seriously considering switching everything to Google. It really is convenient and a time saver. Why didn't any of the other companies think of this before?!

The only bad thing I can think of to using Google for everything is that I already have all of these accounts with things saved on them from years before. So, I would have to transfer everything over from all of my other programs and previous accounts. That is annoying. But, in the end, it really would make life simpler and more convenient. I could slowly do it, and then close out my accounts elsewhere. Or, I could simply start doing everything on Google and eventually not use the current accounts with the other companies. It is definitely doable, though. I think it is worth it in the end.