Gmail Checker is another Gmail notifier. It sits in your
system tray and notifies you if you have any new Gmail emails. It is
open source, supports unlimited accounts, Gmail for your domain, and
has many customizable options.

Bruder has installed this, so I’ll let him comment on how it works, or
what issues he finds. The nice thing is, this is an opensource app
written in python, so I can edit and adapt it for our
environment. Right now, it works on PC, but I’m trying to compile it
for Mac or Linux.

Use Outlook with Google Gmail
Use Thunderbird with Google Gmail
Configuring Other E-mail Clients with Google Gmail

I think piloting using Outlook first would be a good way to move ahead. Can we identify 10-20 people in the pilot to switch over that way?

I’m going to set up Thunderbird and Sunbird/Lightning on my own machine and see how that goes. I think long-term this is the way to go since these options support open standards and should tie into Gmail nicely, as was mentioned in the meeting.

Update: I set up Thunderbird and it provided a one-click transfer of all of my e-mails from Outlook. I also was able to successfully set up POP access through Gmail in Thunderbird.

While searching for information regarding how to synchronize Outlook with Google Apps. I kept stumbling across Funambol as an option through ScheduleWorld.  My concerns is that ScheduleWorld is yet another site that would be having its hands on my data.  It turns out Funambol is an open source server side application that could be run here and can synchronize Google Calendar with iPod Calendars,  SmartPhones, PocketPC,  Blackberry, Palm Software, and Outlook.  I did not go to in depth because server side administration items tend to fly over my user services focused mind.

This could be a potential open source solution housed here that would resolve our syncronization issues.

Funambol 

Here is a support document for Outlook 2007.  This states that it is possible to easily transfer calendars between Google calendar and Outlook 2007.  It does not use the word synchronize.

Outlook 2007 Calendar Help

With this post I attest to the easy of use of the commercial product SyncMyCal ($25) for keeping my outlook and Google calendar in sync. I can sync multiple calendars with various directional priorities and keep them in sync in the background. The biggest problem with the software is entering the complicated license codes. So far . . . smooth sailing.

I ran across a Gmail-to-pretty-much-everything sync service called ScheduleWorld. I have not tested it, so I cannot attest to it’s effectiveness. However, it uses an open standard called SyncML to synchronize between pretty much anything including gmail, outlook, and palm. (Unfortunately, Windows Mobile is not nice enough to play along.)

Here is a new one for syncing Outlook Calendar to run both Outlook and gmail calendar.

 Lifehacker- Download of the Day: gSyncit (Windows)

One issue I have had with gmail is that I constantly have to keep it open in my web browser.  I use firefox, so I just have a tab open all the time.  There is a new plug-in that allows you to keep your gmail tab “minimized” and updates you whenever new e-mail arrives.  I have not yet moved to install Thunderbird or any other client for checking e-mail.  This is a great utility.

Gmail Manager Extension 

The FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) has announced that they are taking a serious look at switching to Google Apps instead of upgrading to Microsoft Office 2007.  David Bowen, the FAA’s CIO, lists “security” and easier “management” as key reasons for considering the switch.  Check out the InformationWeek article.

One of the things that I enjoy about gMail is the fact that Google designs with add-ons and hacks in mind.  I came across the following website listing of their top 10 gmail tips and hacks.  Some of these tips require some technical skill, but the majority are simple ways anyone can advance their gmail capability.

Download Squad