Following yesterdays thread about Fashosts flakiness I came across a reference to Google Apps for providing mail server etc.

Apparently you can use IMAP with Windows Mobile and MSOutlook client locally, plus of course you have easy web based clients as well as Gmail java if you want.

Was also thinking about using Google for document storage too for all my work meaning I wouldnt need to carry syncd data sticks around with me.

Anyone done this? got any advice?
cheers

I use the email and calendar and have sync'd them both to outlook in the past, I reckon that they work well, never had any probs.

Last yr I used Google calendar to add event/race dates to so that all my riding mates could 'share' it & add to it. We added our own availability to it to plan rides & it worked quite well.

I also did kit lists using their documents thing & shared that, which worked quite well.

I'd be wary about the work side of it & storing your work in it. I thought I read that any document that is created on their system effectively belongs to Google.
I'd also be wary that as a free service, I doubt there are any obligations to keep your documents safe, so if it all disappears overnight then there's probably not a lot you can do about it.

Most documents wouldnt actually be created on google docs (my models wont run on their "Excel" because of the functions I use, I have to build them on local Excel app.) it would just be a file repository, rather than a collaborative area.

having read more on google docs though, the file size limits would mean that I cant use it yet anyway….at least not until they finally launch GDrive I guess.

I don't use the full Google Apps suite, but I do use multiple calendars on Google Calendar (synced with iPhone via the Google Sync server) to try and get some order in our chaotic life.

cheers.

the linking of calendars will be useful with Mrs S and me as we currently use discrete calendars in outlook.

since GDrive seems someway off, and google docs wont work for me, can anyone recommend an online http file management system (paid for)? with, say 10Gb of space and a bulk uploader retaining folder structures?

the linking of calendars will be useful with Mrs S and me as we currently use discrete calendars in outlook.

That is exactly what me and the missus use Google Calendar (+Sync) for.
We have calendars for my stuff, her stuff, joint stuff, and other stuff and Sync set up so we can use them all from our phones.

I've been very happy with gmail and have several shared calendars too. They do ActiveSync now for contacts/calendars, and hopefully email soon.

Not gone over to apps just yet, I have my own domain that forwards in to gmail, but when my hosting expires I might just do that. Only downside is the cool new stuff that Google does tends to take a bit longer to reach Apps users.

For the document storage, I can highly recommend Dropbox. They give you 2Gb of space, you run a client on your windows or mac machine and it syncs anything that changes, accessible from the web and iphone too. I use it to keep all my current and recent work on there so it's to hand anywhere I am. If the service ever went tits up, at least you've still got all your data locally!

Use this link: https://www.getdropbox.com/referrals/NTU0NDgzMDk and we both get an extra 250Mb over the standard 2Gb.

ps. you can have 50Gb for $99/year. I'm hoping they'll come along with something between 2 and 50Gb for less money soon.

cheers simon – i think Mrs S has used dropbox before with a client. I shall investigate.

Ideally Im trying to find something wholly hosted with guarnateed backups – trying to go "cloud" bit a early do you think? 🙂