the power of google

I'm afraid my affection for Google's technology is a little too strong, almost to the point of being weird. But I'm a geek, so weird crushes on technology are at least to be expected, if not quite acceptable.

The three Google tools that *everyone* should use are gmail, calendar and docs & spreadsheets. Why? Partly because it's very handy to have the ability to access your email, scheduling and documents from any internet-connected computer in the world. Partly because these web-based applications are easier to use than their standalone Microsoft Office counterparts (Outlook, Word and Excel). Also because these web accessible, simple to use applications also pack in some features that the (supposedly more powerful) standalone Office applications don't have:

• gmail -- automatic grouping of replies into an easy to follow email thread. Until you see this in action, you'll have no idea how frustrating it is to manage email in Outlook.
• calendar -- you can setup events to send notifications to your cell phone via text message.
• docs & spreadsheets -- revision control is an amazing tool, especially when you share documents for other authors to edit. OK, so Word does this too--but how many people *really* have any clue how to use Microsoft's implementation of this feature?
  

I can envision a future in which the vast majority of my (non-work) computing involves nothing more than a web interface that provides me access to Google's web-based tools. Actually, I'm not too far from that right now. What am I lacking? Civ IV as a Google application?