Comments on: What do do when the sky turns gray and those Google clouds turn into thunder and lightning http://www.geardiary.com/2008/08/06/what-do-do-when-the-sky-turns-gray-and-those-google-clouds-turn-into-thunder-and-lightning/ Everyone can understand technology; sometimes it just takes a little translating. Wed, 15 Feb 2012 02:34:00 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Christopher Sperahttp://www.geardiary.com/2008/08/06/what-do-do-when-the-sky-turns-gray-and-those-google-clouds-turn-into-thunder-and-lightning/#comment-38742 Christopher Spera Wed, 06 Aug 2008 19:10:01 +0000 http://www.geardiary.com/?p=11588#comment-38742 I wrote a piece on this for GD back in April, the articile, The Problems and Challenges with Software as a Service," can be seen here: http://www.geardiary.com/2008/04/09/the-problems-and-challenges-with-software-as-a-service/ I think you're bumping into some of what I was talking about (tho I skimmed your post, as I am at work...) I wrote a piece on this for GD back in April, the articile, The Problems and Challenges with Software as a Service,” can be seen here:
http://www.geardiary.com/2008/04/09/the-problems-and-challenges-with-software-as-a-service/

I think you’re bumping into some of what I was talking about (tho I skimmed your post, as I am at work…)

]]> By: Wayne Schulzhttp://www.geardiary.com/2008/08/06/what-do-do-when-the-sky-turns-gray-and-those-google-clouds-turn-into-thunder-and-lightning/#comment-38740 Wayne Schulz Wed, 06 Aug 2008 18:53:09 +0000 http://www.geardiary.com/?p=11588#comment-38740 I moved from a hosted Exchange service to Google Apps for a number of reason -- First, I too LOVED Hosted Exchange. I used Exchangemymail and their uptime and quality was never an issue. It is IMHO the only way to use Exchange for a small business (under 10 mailboxes). Here's why I moved: 1. It's true that OWA (Outlook Web Access) gives you access to your Outlook emails via a think web client. However at the time you could only access a VERY limited subset of your emails via the web. Searching historical emails was impossible (I think this has changed with am upgrade to the capabilities of OWA). I found it rather 1980S-ish that I couldn't log in via the web and search all my emails. 2. I did not want to continue synching my ENTIRE email box to my desktop. I found when I synched that much Outlook data that it became much more prone to data corruption. On the version of Outlook I used (2003) - I believe all that data was stored in one big data file which always seemed to corrupt at the worst possible moment. Indeed during my period of using Exchange I had Outlook corrupt on me probably three or four times (just once is too many times imho). 3. I found that Blackberry Internet Service (about $10 to $15 cheaper per month) would offer push email via Google 4. Google incorporates probably the world's best spam filters (for which I paid an additional fee to my Exchange provider) 5. The biggest reason (aka - straw that broke the camel's back) that I left? Searching through Outlook email was a huge PITA. I tried several programs -- X1, Google Desktop. They were all pretty good -- but every last one of them had this annoying habit of grinding away at my hard disk at the least opportune time. I started to see slowdowns in performance which grew worse and worse. (Note: I believe that some of this has improved with newer versions of Exchange/Outlook as well). 6. My hosted Exchange limited me to some pitifully small inbox -- I want to say around 500 MB. My Google Apps for Domain inbox is 25 GB in size. There are some big limitations to Google. 1. Searching Google emails does not search inside attachments (not a big deal for me but could be for others). 2. If something goes wrong with your Google account -- I am worried that the support may take a long time to respond (based largely on articles such as this one). On a scale of 1 to 10 I say that my experience with Google Mail has been at the 8 level. There are several times where I will notice temporary "unavailable" messages. These are frustrating but typically pass quickly (under 5 minutes). I don't think I would consider going back to MS Exchange unless there was something at work which required it. I moved from a hosted Exchange service to Google Apps for a number of reason –

First, I too LOVED Hosted Exchange. I used Exchangemymail and their uptime and quality was never an issue. It is IMHO the only way to use Exchange for a small business (under 10 mailboxes).

Here’s why I moved:

1. It’s true that OWA (Outlook Web Access) gives you access to your Outlook emails via a think web client. However at the time you could only access a VERY limited subset of your emails via the web. Searching historical emails was impossible (I think this has changed with am upgrade to the capabilities of OWA).

I found it rather 1980S-ish that I couldn’t log in via the web and search all my emails.

2. I did not want to continue synching my ENTIRE email box to my desktop. I found when I synched that much Outlook data that it became much more prone to data corruption. On the version of Outlook I used (2003) – I believe all that data was stored in one big data file which always seemed to corrupt at the worst possible moment. Indeed during my period of using Exchange I had Outlook corrupt on me probably three or four times (just once is too many times imho).

3. I found that Blackberry Internet Service (about $10 to $15 cheaper per month) would offer push email via Google

4. Google incorporates probably the world’s best spam filters (for which I paid an additional fee to my Exchange provider)

5. The biggest reason (aka – straw that broke the camel’s back) that I left? Searching through Outlook email was a huge PITA. I tried several programs — X1, Google Desktop. They were all pretty good — but every last one of them had this annoying habit of grinding away at my hard disk at the least opportune time. I started to see slowdowns in performance which grew worse and worse. (Note: I believe that some of this has improved with newer versions of Exchange/Outlook as well).

6. My hosted Exchange limited me to some pitifully small inbox — I want to say around 500 MB. My Google Apps for Domain inbox is 25 GB in size.

There are some big limitations to Google.

1. Searching Google emails does not search inside attachments (not a big deal for me but could be for others).

2. If something goes wrong with your Google account — I am worried that the support may take a long time to respond (based largely on articles such as this one).

On a scale of 1 to 10 I say that my experience with Google Mail has been at the 8 level. There are several times where I will notice temporary “unavailable” messages. These are frustrating but typically pass quickly (under 5 minutes).

I don’t think I would consider going back to MS Exchange unless there was something at work which required it.

]]> By: Perryhttp://www.geardiary.com/2008/08/06/what-do-do-when-the-sky-turns-gray-and-those-google-clouds-turn-into-thunder-and-lightning/#comment-38739 Perry Wed, 06 Aug 2008 17:46:50 +0000 http://www.geardiary.com/?p=11588#comment-38739 I understand why you moved your Office documents to Google to gain access anywhere, but am unclear why you also moved your email, since Outlook Web Access (OWA) gives you the same web-based access to your email, calendar, contacts, and tasks. (And actually, hosted SharePoint, which is often offered with hosted Exchange, would give you access to your data as well). Personally, I love having a hosted Exchange account. I use Outlook on my desktop and tablet PCs and OWA at work. Everywhere else I use my Windows Mobile phone. My wife uses her iPod Touch (upgraded to 2.0) to access her account. Yes, it's not free like Google, but it's far more flexible and well worth the money, in my opinion. I understand why you moved your Office documents to Google to gain access anywhere, but am unclear why you also moved your email, since Outlook Web Access (OWA) gives you the same web-based access to your email, calendar, contacts, and tasks. (And actually, hosted SharePoint, which is often offered with hosted Exchange, would give you access to your data as well).

Personally, I love having a hosted Exchange account. I use Outlook on my desktop and tablet PCs and OWA at work. Everywhere else I use my Windows Mobile phone. My wife uses her iPod Touch (upgraded to 2.0) to access her account. Yes, it’s not free like Google, but it’s far more flexible and well worth the money, in my opinion.

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