Thanks for the comments. Good or bad, the discourse is always good. I was really sick or reading raving review from Google Fanboys for publicity that ended with the “I can’t wait to try it out”. That’s not a review, that’s paraphrasing the the press release and serves no end except to generate hits and hopefully clicks. I have no advertising here.

The one fatal killer of GC currently for me is the Address Book: “All your contacts in one place”. Not true! It uses copies of what you have from your business account in say Outlook and whatever you use for a personal account. When that information changes; these don’t. I love where Google Aps is going and use Gmail for my personal account. Once this is incorporated to Gmail and Google Aps I’ll get on the train. Until then, this is the major flaw and time suck.

I few thoughts on your comments:
The 1 line/many users issue: Say you have GC setup to simultaneously ring your cell, home and office. Your daughter/son/babysitter picks up the line at home before you can get to it. It could (did) cause some confusion when people are used to calling a specific location or cell and they get temporal confusion when they are routed to who knows where.

Of course this can be modified and configured differently to avoid this. Of course that starts the slippery slope of the bazillion options. Good point Pedro, you can pick and choose. For the self managed power user all the more power to you. I was looking at this from a implementation, training, support view point for a SMB implementing this. Just imagine having this many options for ~30 end users in a target small office environment. Calls getting routed home or to your cell phone, lost business, confused nannies, etc. Sounds like hell to me!

• GrandCentral is not free implicitly or explicitly. How much is your time worth?
• My company focus on serving the needs of SoHo and SMB clients. I write thorough technology reviews for that market from a implementation and support perspective.
• I liked the ending to the Sopranos.

[Our Postal Address]

In the unlikely even you’ll ever have to actually mail us anything here is our postal address:

The Digital Life, LLC
P.O. Box 7191
Watchung, NJ 07069

The Digital Life is proud to be hosted by DreamHost. They are bar-none the best hosting company we have had the pleasure of working with. They are employee owned an operated and “livin’ it up” since 1997. Their personalized service and commitment to excellence are a great match for us at The Digital Life. They have over 500,000 Domains hosted (and counting…). As if our recommendation wasn’t enough, they even offer a 97 day money-back guarantee so you can try for them for you or your company at no risk. Follow this link to check them out.

[More coming very soon...]

A few of our consultants are a little blog shy. We’ll be investing more time in our consultants area very soon.

DriveSavers success stories are legendary and have received extensive coverage throughout the world. Satisfied customer’s include Fortune 500 companies, financial institutions, healthcare providers, colleges and universities, major film studios, government agencies, small businesses, celebrities, musicians, college students and now maybe you! They even have a full-time Data Crisis Counselor on staff to help customer’s deal with the emotional stress of data loss. Talk about customer service!

For those with a smaller digital afterlife Staples makes it easy for customers to recycle e–waste by simply bringing their used computers, monitors, laptops, and desktop printers, faxes and all–in–ones to any U.S. Staples store. All brands are accepted, regardless of whether or not the equipment was purchased at Staples. A recycling fee of $10 per piece of large equipment is charged to cover handling, transport, product disassembly and recycling. Smaller computer peripherals such as keyboards, mice, and speakers are accepted at no charge. They also offer $3 back through Staples Rewards toward a future purchase of ink or toner when HP, Lexmark™ or original Dell cartridges are returned to our retail stores for recycling.

[The Road Ahead...]

As your business grows, so do the tools and technologies that make IT work. We know the importance of planning to strategically invest in the right tools at the right time. Since your Virtual CIO knows you and your business from our consultive relationship we can anticipate your needs and help you plan accordingly. In developing a technology plan we can recommend investing in technology today with an eye on tomorrow to maximize your ROI. Your Virtual CIO will work with you to see that your business and your technology are in sync for the road ahead.

Name: Andrew R. Schoewe

Title: Technical Consultant

Education:

• Davidson College:
  B.S. Physics
• Washington University in St. Louis:
  M.S. Computer Science

Software Development Experience:

• Over 2 years of professional development experience creating medical software and knowledge management systems.
• Experience focus in Java, Mac Cocoa, and Asp.Net frameworks.

What do you do at The Digital Life?

I serve as technical and implementation consultant for The Digital Life itself and our many clients. My programming and systems background allow for insight beyond the marketing into the gears of our future technology partners. This allows TDL to make better judgments on technology investments both now and for the future.

What to you like best about your work at TDL?

I take great pride in seeing how much our clients love the benefits of their new technology. Often even before our projects are complete we receive emails from our clients saying how much more [productive, enjoyable, easy, fun] life is now. It really is amazing how much change even a relatively small investment can make.

What is your background?

I’ve always been interested in technology and building useful and fun programs. Unfortunately, it wasn’t until half-way through college that I realized this, so I decided to get a master’s degree on top of my physics degree. Since then, I’ve been writing software professionally with the occasional break to travel.

Anything else you care to share?

As a Midwestern transplant, I look forward to exploring The Big Apple and the various running clubs on the island. When not exploring, you can find me quoting comedic movies of questionable taste.

My name is Jim. But most of my friends call me… Jim.
-The Waco Kid

[How We Do It]

In consulting with our clients on technology solutions we rely on two key principals to guide us along the path: Excellence and Simplicity.

We partner with the most innovative manufacturers of hardware, software, and services to deliver the most friendly, elegant, and consistent experience possible.

Be a yardstick of quality. Some people aren’t used to an environment where excellence is expected.

- Steve Jobs - Co-Founder, Apple

We believe technology should be as simple as possible to accomplish its mission. Easy to understand, easy to implement, easy to use, and easy to support.

All things being equal, the simplest solution tends to be the best one.

- William of Ockham, 14th-century English logician