Like many Internet Marketeers that I know, I’m delighted to use a MacBook for the majority of my desktop and mobile usage. One of my problem areas for using Google’s technology stack is that Safari isn’t fully supported – not to the extent that FireFox and nominally Chrome are. One example being that Gears on Safari isn’t supported for Gmail – which means that you can’t sensibly use the MacBook/Safari/Gears/Gmail combination for mobile email (the connection on the train to London is much too flaky – appearing and disappearing every few minutes).
It’s not that I don’t or won’t use FireFox, it’s that FireFox is far too valuable for me, as a debugger/developer/investigation tool. I don’t want lots of uncontrolled requests from it, for Gmail/Buzz updates. It would interfere with my use of Charles and other testing/analysis tools. I end up *having* to use Safari, Chrome, Camino, Flock to get my other things done.
As a result of not having Gears in those other browsers, I’ve got used to running Apple’s Mail, which has the added benefit that the blogs that I like to read are interpolated in my combined (business, personal, private and administrative) email streams. Running Mail means that I don’t have to use the browsers’ memory to hold my email, cuts down the WebKit processor usage and usually means that I don’t need to open lots of sessions for different mail services.
Buzz
I find that after the privacy issues involving Buzz have started to wither, I’m becoming a fan of Buzz. Why?
- I’m finding new users who’ve got interesting things to say.
- If I don’t have to switch applications, or tabs, it’s a decrease in my perception of “switching tasks” – it’s my comms window and I’m switching modes, not switching tasks.
- The length of postings and comments is more comfortable than Twitter; 140 characters focuses the mind, but not a lot of people can manage to say anything substantial in 140 characters…
- Linking articles is *easy*.
- Comment streams are easier to follow than on Twitter (without having a desktop app that requires refocus)
After I’ve used it a bit more, I’ll probably think of some other reasons… There’s plenty of improvements that I can see a need for (I’m still not entirely convinced that the privacy issues are resolved), but the raw, out of the box experience is sufficiently positive, that I expect to be using it more than Twitter and FaceBook. Much of that coming from not having to switch mental contexts with application or tab switching – the old issue in user interface task analysis, of whether the next task feels like a context switch.
A mild downside for personal use is that I can’t see how to get analytics on link usage – unless I revert to some hideous URL shortener technology twiddle. And, of course, if one was running a corporate Buzz (guys, I’m in Marketing, of course that’s the next thing I think about), then there’s the whole issue about how many Gmail accounts I can have open in a browser at a time. Part of my need in running so many browsers is that I can separate task-groups. If I’m in Camino, then I do this set of tasks. If I’m FireFox, I’m doing this group, etc. And that means that I can have a separate Gmail session for each (this is partially a vestige of my days involved with InfoSec, and partially a consequence of me wanting to isolate activities so that as we grow the company, I can delegate those IDs to someone else to manage). Adding a whole new set of identity-tabs to have concurrent Gmail identities open for running Buzz, will be problematic.
Anyway, with a good Buzz experience, so quickly, I decided to give the whole Gmail on Mac experience another chance. I opened a Safari tab on Gmail, and went to check the settings. Offline browsing is still not available for Safari, but it recommends FireFox and Chrome. I’ve got Chrome running most of the time, anyway, so new tab and Gmail… and still no Gears. There’s a help link (“Offline Mail is not supported by your browser. Learn more”) which, when clicked, takes me to a page that tells me nothing visibly useful about Chrome, the Mac, and Gears. Why am I referred to this page, with a single vaguely applicable statement (“You may be able to enable Offline Gmail on Safari” – but no mention of Chrome and Gears on a Mac)? I have no idea.
I use my Firefox instance for investigating web sites – lots of GreaseMonkey, debugger/developer/SEO plugins, use of Charles to investigate whether Analytics is working, etc. I really *don’t* want to use Gmail/Buzz in that environment. I guess that most other users are able to use FireFox, but personally, despite the positive experience of Buzz, because I can’t sensibly use Buzz (I need to stay in Apple Mail to get consistent online/offline usage of email), I’ll be on Buzz rarely.
In the interim, I’ll be looking forward to the day that Google get Gears working fully on the Mac on Chrome and Safari. Or perhaps I’ll try to find some time to work out how to get two instances of FireFox running, with different configurations… Or perhaps Apple might find a way to interpolate Buzz into my Mail-stream, along with my preferred blogs. *That* would be my first choice:
- Integrated message stream (tasks, mail, blogs, Buzz, maybe Twitter and FaceBook) for multiple accounts
- Offline and online usage, with messages queued for when I reconnect
- Lighter on the CPU than multiple browser sessions
- Ability to monitor and post corporate as well as personal and administrative items
So, small brickbat to Google for initial privacy issues, big bouquet for adding a cool new tool with some great characteristics, moderately sized brickbat for making offline usage on the Mac into a FireFox-only experience… and I think I’ve found another reason to consider an iPad. I can let my desktop focus on my site investigations, coding, admin, documentation. The iPad can sit next to it, and focus on the comms, notes and logbook. Have Safari on the iPad open for Buzz, and I’m not distracted by what’s happening on the main activity screen of my Mac, except when my attention leaves the screen, anyway. And the iPad will take care of resynch when the signal comes back.
