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Google Apps vs Zimbra

Way back in October of 2008 I started using Zimbra (Hosted by 01.com) instead of Google Apps.  At the time the reasons were based mainly about security and the lack of good syncing from Google Apps to my iPhone.  I also recall the less than stellar Contact management on Google Apps.

Whats different?  We first the Contact management on Google Apps/Gmail is much improved.  I think it is pretty close to being on par with Zimbra, or enough to be really usable.  Secondly they offer Exchange like sync to any devices such as my iPhone.  With those two problems solved plus the fact that Google Apps always was a better email system I was very tempted to switch.

Another driving factor for me was I wanted to try the Nexus One (see previous posts) and having a Google Apps or Gmail account would make Android work so much better.  That was probably the tipping point for the switch even though I wasn't sure if I would continue with Android.  Google Apps since it now uses Exchange sync works with many devices including both Android and iPhone.

Is there still a security issue with Google Apps, perceived or otherwise?  The short answer is maybe.  I think they will be good enough if I pay for the Premium account.

For years I have paid for mail forwarding services from Dyndns.org.  I love it, but it is not cheap.  It costs almost as much as a full year for 1 mailbox on Google Apps Premium.  What I would do is route mail to my Zimbra account and to my free Gmail account so I had my mail basically in two places in case I lost any one provider.  It was a bit over kill I know, but I got burned before with a regular email provider.  So on top of my mail routing service I also was/am paying for Zimbra.  2gig's of storage and iphone syncing is about $65.  If I just bite the bullet and go with one host only (google apps) I can save almost $100 if I go for the free services.  If I want to pay for better SLA and more space, etc I am saving 50% or $50.

Any cloud service has some security risks.  I may be a bit paranoid about the whole google has my stuff issues I have so I started using Google Apps again.  I first tried using it with my old Scott.ac domain and used Dyndns to route my main domain to it.  I found that I really don't think I want to continue to using the mail routing service after it expires so I setup another Google Apps account for my main domain.

I spent the past half a week uploading all my mail archives to the new account.  The vast majority of my stuff is up there now and labeled and is all perfect.

It is now the first time in years that I have turned off the mail forwarding and have all my mail going to only one place.  I did that as a test to see if I will be happy with this setup once the mail routing service expires.  So far, so good.  Knock on wood.  If I am happy in 3 months than I am now I may actually buy the Premium service.

A Long Wednesday

Today was a very long day for me.  It isn't that I don't do 11 hour work days.  I get my fair share every once in a while.  It was the fact that I had to get up and have a conference call at 7AM that was killing me.  I was surprised that after my shower and some cappuccino I was actually able to function.

I had calls pretty much all day till about 4PM.  I ended up catching up on work tasks and email till about 6 when I finally decided to get offline and relax.  That was pretty much my day!

Sick Week

This week I was sick for most of the week. I took Tuesday off just to have a longer weekend, but it ended up being just a day I was sick inside! I wasn't too happy about that. I worked from home Wednesday but felt like crap most of the day. I even napped in the evening after work.

I woke up on Thursday and decided to just take a sick day since i was still feeling out of it. I should have done that on Wednesday, but I didn't.

By Friday I was feeling more myself but a bit congested. I worked, but it was from home. I ran out to Manhattan to look for something at the Apple store, and was aiming to grab dinner. I ended up not buying anything and headed home for dinner. I stayed in the rest of the night and both yesterday and today. Well I don't count going to the store for food as going out. I wanted to make sure I killed this cold so I could have a normal week this week.

So far I feel pretty good, so fingers crossed for the upcoming week!

My Barely A Week With The Nexus One

Back in December I tried T-Mobile and the G1 out as a possible alternative for my iPhone.  The idea was that T-Mobile's no contract plans might work out for me and if I liked the Android OS enough I would get a newer Android phone to replace my iPhone 3GS.  That experiment ended badly due to the G1 being no where near the iPhone and T-Mobile service sucking as bad or worse than AT&T did where I use it.

I have been eying the Nexus One for a little while since they offer an AT&T version of it.  It is the latest in Android phones and it has some advantages over the iPhone in hardware.  That and it used the same network my iPhone did I was curious to see if I could make the switch to the Nexus One and Android.  I keep saying the iPhone is the best phone I ever had but I would love to get rid of it so I figured I would give it a try.

I bought the Nexus One off of Google's site.  It arrived the next day.  I give them props for that.  Unlike the G1, the Nexus One hardware was very nice.  Call quality was great, the screen was amazing and sharp.

I will cover in another post my switch from Zimbra (hosted at 01.com) to Google Apps.  I had to make this switch for this test to really work well, but I had been pondering this switch independently of the phone test for a while also.  The point is with a Gmail/Google Apps account setup the process of setting up my contacts, mail, and calendar on the new phone was totally painless.  The fact that Google Voice only works with an associated Gmail account and not Google Apps is a down side, but I survived.

I was all set to jump into the Android OS.  My original plan was to force myself to switch and use the Nexus One for a month.  By that point I will have either wanted to stick with it, or the new rumored iPhone would be out and or announced.  In reality I got only a few days (and not even using the phone for full days) before I threw in the towel.

On the plus side most of the apps I used on my iPhone had equivalent apps on Android.  I would say the vast majority of the apps I used had some sort of replacement on the Android.  The caveat to that is most of them were the Android versions were no where near as good as the iPhone versions.  They either were functionally inferior or just visually looked bad.  The option of more types of apps still had me interested.  Like the ability to have a caller ID app run all the time, or a location based profile app run all the time both were great ideas and reasons why I wanted an Android for multi tasking.  But those advantages were short lived when most of the apps I was used to using weren't as good.  I have read others talk about this on Android and I can't understand how reviewers can say Android will beat iPhone until this is fixed.

One major downside that may have pushed me over the edge in not wanting to use this phone was its music player.  I bought a cheap app to sync my itunes playlists to the phone so i was happy about that, but there was no easy way to use the music player when the phone was locked.  With the iPhone when the phone is locked you only have to double tap the round button and you get music controls.  That is huge! If i wanted to get to the same controls on the Android phone when it was locked I had to hit the power button, swipe my finger to unlock and then either have a music widget on my home screen or swipe over to another home screen with the music widget on it.  That just bothered me to no end.  Then I realized the Android OS doesn't come with a video player.  Really?  And this is supposed to be a nice easily replacement for every day consumers?

The final straw for me was when I was editing an email and I couldn't use my finder to highlight or move the cursor.  I can with the iPhone (well you have to with the iphone since that is the only input), but with the Nexus One you need to use the trackball.  Why?  I don't want to use a trackball.  I don't for anything else, but you kinda have to with this function.  Little things like that bothered me with this phone.  I have read that people say Android is not as "polished" as the iPhone.  They are right.  It isn't.  I am a savy technical person (or I like to think so) and this stuff bothered me, so not sure what the average consumer would think.  I know several friends who are average consumers who love their Android phones.  My friend Dave just got a new Incredible.  I just don't get how they are happy, but then again they haven't used an iPhone.  I chalk it up to each person has their own tastes.

On the flip side Google Voice was fantastic on the Nexus One.  If anything that was one of the main reasons why I tried this experiment.  This plus couldn't make up for all the short comings.

Lastly the fact that shopping for apps is only possible on the phone was a problem for me.  It worked out ok, but I like to browse on the computer and then send stuff to my iPhone.  Minor issue but still why can't there be some sort of over the air sync?

In the end I got a few days out of the phone.  I am not worried.  It is in mind condition and will go up onto ebay in a few days.  Android may be popular and someone will be very happy with this phone, but I am happy drinking the cool aid and I am sticking with my iPhone 3GS.  Well until Apple announces something new this month!

BBQ With Friends

For the holiday I went up to Jayson, Gretchen, & Seth's for yesterday and today. Originally it was going to just be me coming over and hanging out. At the last minute John and his family called and wanted to come up so Jay turned Sunday into a BBQ. 2 of Gretchen's brothers came over, John, Z, and Christian came over also. Dave came by after his shift at work ended. We hung out. BBQ'ed, and went into the pool. It was a bit hot so the pool was nice.

I stayed over and we grabbed breakfast this morning, and then hung out by the pool for most of the day until I headed back to the city. I took off on a train before 4 so I could get back home at a decent hour. Overall a great two days out of the city with good friends!

4Th Birthday Party

Today I went to my nephew's 4th birthday party. It was a bit early this year since my sister won at an auction an appearance / performance of Zachary's favorite musical performer. This guy is like kiddie crack for Zack. He loves his music. So in order to have him for the party they had it a few weeks before Zachary's birthday.

It was a long day for me since I had to get up early to catch a train out to south NJ. That on top of the fact that I was out kinda late I was tired. The party was fun. They had it outside in my sisters back yard. There were tons of kids there. I took a bunch of photo's that are on my flickr stream now.

It was great see'ing the family, but I didn't plan to stay over so I was on my way back to the city after dinner. All in all a very fun but action packed day!

Friday in The Office And Drinks With Friends

Today was an extremely long day at work. Typically I work from home on Friday, but today I had a face to face meeting. On the plus side it is always good to see a lot of people on a project, but on the downside it was a two-hour lunch meeting. Overall it was a good day, but extremely hectic and long.

After work I met up with a few friends that I had not seen in a while. It was good to have a drink with Luke and talk with Vanessa and her friends, but separately since she had to go early. I was happy that I stuck to my two-drink maximum, even though I don't normally.

I think it home too early or too late. I was also glad that the weather cleared and it was actually a pretty nice evening.

The Missing Week Or So

The past week or two has been actually very hectic. Typically when I'm really busy I still try to write about my experiences and post date blog entries. Over the past week or two it had been so hectic I haven't really thought about what has been going on, so I have not written anything down. That's not being that I haven't been doing very much. Actually I think I've been out off every night during the week, and all last weekend. I will endeavor to try and keep track of what's going on more.

Relaxing Saturday

Today I didn't go out or "do" anything and I was totally happy doing it. I have had plans or been running around for most of the past 8 weeks so it was nice to decompress a bit. I honestly can't really remember well the good thing. I was that good at relaxing, and doing nothing.

Company Shwag

I found a note about a company store website where I can get stuff with the company logo. I had bought a polo and an unbrella on another site a few months ago but the selection wasn't so great. I was eager to check out the new site. I bought two polos, and a fleet of top. If the polls fit well probably buy more.