Enter the Matrix -or- “Living in the Google World” for 7 Days

NO PICTURE TODAY: READ BELOW TO HEAR THE REASONS WHY

Having written so much about Google’s Chrome browser, how it fits together with Gears, Android, Google Apps, and more, I decided it was time to try to totally “Living in the Google World” for a week.

By “Living in the Google World”, I mean that I’ll only use Chrome as my browser and only use online web apps (Google is the first preference) instead of desktop apps.

Beyond giving a great experience of the reality of current web apps, I think it will also open up some insights on the future of the web, applications and software in similar way to how being one of the first to get broadband access at home opened up my eyes to the real potential of the web back in 1998.

Sound tough? We’ll see. You get to watch it as it unfolds day by day.

I’ll list all the apps I run in Chrome and whatever else comes up.

For those who still have questions, here are the detailed rules:

1. All the work I normally do with desktop apps must be done with online apps, giving preferential treatment to the Google suite of products.
2. If there’s a critical desktop app I need that I can’t find an online equivalent to, I go without.
3. If it comes down to an emergency or a situation of “There’s no way I can’t skip doing this work”, I’ll make a note, get the work done and promise to share all the notes at the end of day 7.
4. There will be times where I need to upload/convert work in progress to be usable by the web application. If no online “import” software is available, I’ll revert to using the desktop software just until I get the work online.
5. Where possible, I won’t even use my hard drive as a temporary storage space. If I can’t find the proper online accessible storage, I’ll use a 32 meg memory key as a temporary holding space until I find one or 7 days are over.

One request, if you have a favorite Google app that is ultra useful for you or another web app that you find indispensible, please to post it as a comment. I think I’m going to need all the help I can get.

PS – No picture today because I’m still starting up by finding the right webapps for image editing.