Google Calender major piece in the business puzzle

Firstly I am not a person that frequently uses calendar type products and my personal diary is only used to note down information from meetings. My appointments are found through my email.

I used Lotus notes and Microsoft outlook for the last 8 years. I actually wrote a Microsoft Access and SQL server calendaring software for my team. But in my experience the maintenance in using a calendering system is usually more work then the perceived benefits.

After a day of using Google Calendar, I can see it is very simple and intuitive. I still need to understand how to get Gmail integration working though. I have entered my plans for Easter Weekend and main outstanding milestones for the next two weeks. To me the best features of the Google Calendar is how I can use it for both personal and work events. I may trial this at work but need to first confirm what personal and work users can see in the Calender


Last month my friend asked if his company should choose Microsoft Exchange or mdaemon and I told him what about using Gmail for his company. Adding the Calendering functions with integrations to Gmail and GTalk is really bringing together a good argument for companies to move their communication to Google. The missing piece is a Skype type of integration to GMail


The main issues against companies using Google to be used for communication

• Privacy of the information
• When an employee leaves and you need to access his/her work emails.
• Internet bandwith speed and access to the internet
• Relying on Google for the response time

So should Microsoft be worried in Google eating into its business market. The key will be how writely ends up and when Google finds/creates an excel replacement.

I wonder when Google will get into games!!