Google vs. The Desktop

Michael Calore, in the Wired Monkey Bites blog, has begun an interesting experiment ("The Google Life") to see if Google apps are mature enough to replace desktop apps. So far, he has reviewed Gmail and Google Reader.

I've long had side-by-side Gmail, Yahoo!, and desktop POP email clients, but remain undecided.

I'm on day 9 of my own switch from RSS in Safari to Google (Labs) Reader. I'm staying with Reader for now, but may evaluate some other options.

Advantages of Reader so far:

- it waits for me on a Google home page or in its own tab (less of a distraction)
- I can check it from anywhere
- easy to use, with some nice interface features

Disadvantages so far:

- the interface is laggy on older computers
- some quirks in how Reader determines when I've read a post

I'm still considering how I can differentiate between RSS feeds I always want to see (and track whether I've read), and those that are nice to see when I have extra time (without those pesky unread counts piling up). Maybe some aggregated feeds on a personalized Google home page tab? Some Yahoo! Pipes transmogrification?

Anne Zelenka also looked this week at the issue of web (and hybrid) vs. desktop on Web Worker Daily ("Smackdown: Web vs. Desktop Apps") and asks what functions have moved to the web and what remains on the desktop. Information delivery and collaboration are clearly well suited to web delivery, but we don't seem to be there yet for rich feature requirements and heavy production tasks. With web apps from a major provider, there is location independence, little worry about data integrity, and a promise of better future integration. But desktop apps still rule in areas of performance, rich features, and consistency of interface. Google has an impressive array of tools (as does Yahoo!, though the focus is different), but tighter integration would make them more compelling. My privacy preferences also influence how much I am willing to give up to a third-party in the name of convenience. It will be interesting to see how these issues play out over the next couple of years, what standards evolve, and which services get mainstream attention.