For those of you who don’t know what Google Apps is, it’s a cloud-based suite of tools from Google available to everyone.  Think of it as your own set of Google tools – gmail, calendar, documents, and more all wrapped up under your domain name (like ours: computercourage.com).  Pricing ranges from free (yes, free, up to 10 users) to $50/user/year.  To you, Google Apps means affordable, reliable, powerful technology in the cloud which allows you to focus on your own business.  If you want our help setting it up, just contact us.

Today I want to focus on the reliability side of Google Apps.  Many business experience downtime with their email.  Sometimes their in-house mail servers crash, get viruses, or run out space.  Sometimes their free email provided by their web host goes down for hours, with nobody to take responsibility.  Google is different.  Google is far more reliable (less downtime) than any cloud service we’ve ever used, and on top of that they are far more responsive to and responsible about problems when they occur.

Uptime is Google’s specialty.  According to a recent blog article, Google Apps experienced 99.984% uptime in 2010 and 99.99% uptime in the first half of 2011.  That’s unreal: they go down for less than 5 minutes a month, including maintenance and upgrades.  Google Apps for Business (the paid version) boasts an “SLA” or Service Level Agreement which guarantees 99.9% uptime.  And when they do go down, Business users have a 1-800 number to call for support.

Screenshot Courtesy of Google

Google has taken uptime responsibility even a step further, offering complete transparency in their uptime and reporting on their downtime.  The Google Apps Status Dashboard is available for the whole world to view, you don’t even need to log in to see it.  In the dashboard, you’ll find an amazing level of detail about Google’s services.  You can see an interactive calendar with a history of each service and when outages have occurred.  You can see detailed notes from the engineers who practically micro-blog during outages explaining what’s going on, and how close they are to resolving the issue.  An example:

8/29/11 5:30 PM- We’re experiencing an issue affecting less than 0.05% of the Google Mail user base. The affected users are unable to access Google Mail. We will provide an update by 8/29/11 6:30 PM detailing when we expect to resolve the problem. Please note that this resolution time is an estimate and may change.

8/29/11 7:00 PM - Google Mail service has already been restored for some users, and we expect a resolution for all users within the next 30 minutes. Please note this time frame is an estimate and may change.

8/29/11 8:30 PM - The problem with Google Mail should be resolved. We apologize for the inconvenience and thank you for your patience and continued support. Please rest assured that system reliability is a top priority at Google, and we are making continuous improvements to make our systems better.

Pretty impressive stuff.  When I think of cloud service outages, I think of services mysteriously failing and re-appearing, of “support” without a phone number, and of companies whom I can’t even place on a continent.  Google is leading the way for the refinement of service and responsibility in the new cloud era, and I’m happy to benefit from it with the peace of mind that it brings to my company every day.  If you want to learn more about Google Apps, or find out if it’s right for your company, give us a call.  If you have thoughts you want to share in the comments, go right ahead.

At Computer Courage, some of our favorite and most frequently Google Apps tools include:

• Gmail interface (especially the new interface) allows us to search through gigs of email, and to store contacts.  We have a near-perfect spam filter and 25 gigs of storage each.
• Google Calendar lets us share calendars and easily see them on the desktop or mobile interface – we have 10 calendars shared.
• The mobile interface is amazing, allowing us to sync with iPhones, Android, BlackBerry, etc.
• The Outlook plugin allows us to have a Microsoft Exchange-like experience with all of Gmail/Google Calendar features in the familiar Outlook interface.
• The reliability and uptime are incredible.  To put it simply, it practically never goes down.

That’s just a start, Google’s impressive blog article is a great read if you need convincing on the power of Google Apps over simple free email solutions or as a comparison to the new Office 365 from Microsoft.  If you want any help selecting a cloud-based corporate email system for your company, contact us for a free consultation.  Computer Courage is an authorized Google Apps Reseller.

Link – A look back as we move ahead: Gmail and Google Calendar – Google Enterprise Blog

Recently, Google has made some really important improvements to its services, and we’d like to outline a few of them for our loyal readers today.  There are so many fantastic features that we are splitting this newsletter into two parts.  In our second installtion of “Google Applications Grow Up” we’ll explore more powerful and time saving features for you and your businesses.

Wirelessly Synchronize your Contacts and Calendar to Your Phone
Almost any smartphone in the world can now wirelessly synchronize contacts and calendar data with Google (mail sync been possible for a while now).  This means you have all of your information on the go, all of your information is backed up by Google, and you never have to dock or sync your phone again for data sync purposes.  We’ve been waiting for this one for a while, and now it’s a reality.

For BlackBerry, open up your BlackBerry web browser and go to http://m.google.com.  Install both the Google Mobile App and the Gmail App.  Run them, enter your Gmail or Google Apps account, and BOOM – all of your contacts, messages, and calendar information are instantly available to you.

For the iPhone, you can set up your mail account as an IMAP account (guide).  Now, you can set up your calendar and your contacts separately.  Essentially, Google accomplishes this by “tricking” the iPhone into believing the Google is a Microsoft Exchange server.  This process is not too hard, but take caution – if you don’t carefully back up according to the instructions, you can lose your iPhone’s contacts.  Be careful and call us if you have any questions about this process – here’s the guide.

If you have any other smartphone, Google has their usual quality support information online here.

More Great New Gmail Functions
Google can’t stop adding new features.  These new features, called “Google Labs” are great opportunities to try new functionality.  Explore Gmail labs by logging into Gmail and clicking Settings, then clicking the Labs tab. Check out some of our favorites:

Mail Goggles – Avoid accidental “happy” emailing by enabling Goggles.  If Google suspects you’re not in your normal state of mind, it will force you to answer math questions before sending!
Forgotten Attachment Detector – How many times have we all forgotten to attach our attachments?  Google scans your message for mention of an attachment, and checks to see if there is one.  If not, it warns you before sending the message.
Multiple Inboxes – The name is a bit misleading, but this function allows you to watch multiple folders (labels) in Gmail from your inbox.  Put the main inbox on the left, and see other folders (family, business, etc.) on the right hand side at the same time.  This is particularly good if you use filters.
Signature Tweaks – Add “signature float”, which puts your signature above the quoted response text when you reply to someone.  Simple but helpful.

Google Apps – Google For Business
I mentioned this last week, but can’t reiterate it enough.  If you run a business and have talked to us in the last year, we’ve probably mentioned Google Apps.  Google Apps is a phenomenal and free tool for businesses that provides reliable, secure, and powerful IT solutions to businesses (including Computer Courage) for free.  Features include Gmail (with all the features I’ve listed above) for everyone, shared calendar (which syncs to phones and Outlook), chat, easy adding/removing of users, shared documents, and more.  This is a seriously powerful and valuable tool for any business, from one person to a large corporation.  If you haven’t talked to us about Google Apps, we highly recommend you give us a call, we’ll tell you all about how it can save you time and money and help your business grow.  This is an essential tool for any business, don’t miss out.

Don’t forget to read Part 1 of this entry here.

Photo by Gayle Laakmann (www.technologywoman.com)

Google’s products have always been terrific, but in recent months the internet juggernaut has made unbelievable progress in developing its offerings.  Computer Courage strongly recommends many Google products such as Gmail, Search, Picasa, Calendar, and more.  For businesses, we’ve been strong supporters (and users) of Google’s business-class mail/calendar/document system Google Apps (if you run a business, and you don’t know about Google Apps, call us immediately – there is a lot to learn!)

Recently, Google has made some very important improvements to its services, which we would like to review with you today.  There are so many fantastic features that we are splitting this newsletter into two parts.  You’ll receive part two in about a week after this one.

Google Mail and Calendar Go Offline
One of the main complaints about Gmail and Gcal have always been accessibility; until now there has been no obvious way to access your Gmail or calendar offline without 3rd party sync tools, but this week that all changed.  Google has created Offline Mode to allow you to access your information when you’ve got no WiFi, or you’re on a plane, or in a location with a bad internet connection.

Essentially, Google Offline allows you to open up Gmail and Gcal in your browser whether you are connected to the internet or not.  You can read emails, search for messages or appointments, set up appointments in your calendar, and even compose new messages.  If you are offline, Google will sync up any changes you’ve made when you are next connected to the internet.

The system is still in development, so it’s not available to all users, and it has some bugs and limitations.  But chances are you can go enable it and start using it today.  If you want to know more about offline access, including technical details, limitations, and an easy how-to guide to set up Offline Mode, read our recent blog entry here: http://www.computercourage.com/2009/02/08/google-goes-offline-with-mail-and-calendar/.

It should also be noted that Google Calendar can also sync to your Outlook or iCal programs.  Write or call and we can help you set that up.

Google Mail uses IMAP to Syncronize Between Devices
The term IMAP doesn’t sound like much, but it’s a very important upgrade to mail that Google adopted in 2008.  In the old days of email, we would download messages from the server, and put them on a computer.  In that model, we could only access messages from one place, and had no good backup.  Next came Yahoo Mail and Hotmail, which allowed us to access mail over the web.  The problems with that were that we didn’t have our own backup of messages, had limited mobile access, and couldn’t use our beloved Microsoft Outlook account.  Google found the answer with IMAP, which allows you to use programs such as Outlook, Thunderbird, and Apple Mail on any number of computers, synchronizing mail between all of them (and with Gmail as well.)  This means that if you mark a message as “read” on your desktop, it’s “read” on your laptop and webmail.  If you send a message from your phone, it’s in the “sent messages” folder on your desktop.  This is the single most important feature of Google Mail, and we highly recommend you switch to Google just for it!  This feature is not available in Yahoo, and costs extra in Hotmail.  Call to find out more.

Google Apps – Google For Business
If you run a business and have talked to us in the last year, we’ve probably mentioned Google Apps.  Google Apps is a phenomenal and free tool for businesses that provides reliable, secure, and powerful IT solutions to businesses (including Computer Courage) for free.  Features include Gmail (with all the features I’ve listed above) for everyone, shared calendar (which syncs to phones and Outlook), chat, easy adding/removing of users, shared documents, and more.  This is a seriously powerful and valuable tool for any business, from one person to a large corporation.  If you haven’t talked to us about Google Apps, we highly recommend you give us a call, we’ll tell you all about how it can save you time and money and help your business grow.  This is an essential tool for any business, don’t miss out.

You can now read Part 2 of this article here.