I have been very happy with Gmail. I look at my email at the web site first, sometimes replying from the web site. The remainder I download to my computer using Thunderbird, a free email client in the Mozilla family.

When you have a Google account, you can create a customized home page at Google. You can create six different pages. I have one page that let’s me preview my email, has links to some of my essential web pages, previews the various blogs I find useful, etc. You can customize the pages by adding “gadgets.” What is nice is that I can log onto this customized page from any computer that has web access.

Other services I use are:

Google Doc – Allows you to create, edit, and share online documents, spreadsheets, and presentation. There are numerous examples of how I use Google Docs to collaborate with others.

Calendar – Each of our family members has a calendar and we share them with each other. You can select one or more calendars to display at any time to keep track of each others’ schedules. You can also add in “Public” calendars, such as US Holidays and, for me, PSU’s Academic Calendar. Also, we have a calendar for my Mom that each of the siblings can access to view or enter appointments, etc.

There are really too many talk about. Take a look for yourself at some of the other Google services. A third-party has created a comprehensive list of Google Services.