When Chrome got extensions, they felt like an evolutionary step. I can install something in the browser that does not need restart? It was like going from Windows to Linux where instead of waiting for the reboot all the time you could run the same system for weeks and months if you wanted to. A bliss...
Don't remember when I first heard of the Chrome Web(App)Store, but I do recall that I didn't think much of it. The idea looked neat but not something that I would use. A few days ago, however, it got a bigger advertising push, had new features (as much as I can tell) like syncing the apps between different computers (the extensions did that before as well),... So I set out to try it.
It's like first trip to the candy store - I go and install every one of them that looks interesting. So what do I have now?
First impression of the whole Web Store that they are still looking for their own definition, what is an app - and most crucially, how's an app different from an extension or even a bare bookmark?
My thought so far: in most cases the difference is from marginal to non-existent. This is especially obvious for Google's own "apps": Gmail, Finance, Blogger, .... Those are just links to the respective websites. Why make it an app, then? I have two guesses, which are not exclusive:
well, they cannot be left out, duh!
many of the websites we use now are closer to the stand-alone desktop software we know very well than to a traditional website. This might be a nudge of reminder: "this is not a website, this is a web 2.0 application!"
The second one seems to be the more important insight, the blurring boundary of what's on the web and what's off. Guess the distinction is made when you go in a lecture room in the basement of your university and there are no plugs and waves and 2,3,3.5,4G connections... If you can still take notes? App. If have to ask your neighbor for paper, and yeah, pen, then it's Web 2.0.... Duh.
And even besides the Google apps, most others are just links. Some feel more "linky" than other. That's partly a design challenge (there are some truly gorgeous apps, sure) and partly an UI challenge of when to ask for that darn "sign-up" that will bring the business in. The pushy apps, and the ones that don't have Gmail login feel more "old-school" than the seamlessly integrated ones. I definitely don't want to make a new login for every app I install. That wouldn't be more convenient but more annoying than the desktop cousins.
So, what do I installed (and kept for more than 10 seconds)?
- Graphics apps. They need to improve but I can see their potential, mostly for quick and dirty editing.
- Aviary has a bunch of those (along with e.g. music editor), I have Advanced Image Editor (compete with Irfanview or GIMP) and the Vector Editor (compete with Inkscape). We'll see how they'll work out. Though I was surprised that it's flash instead of HTML5. Guess I expected too much
- Sketchpad, because looks cool, otherwise yet another Paint clone.
- Productivity/Work, this seems to be a lot of very similar apps, I tried a few in many categories, currently using these ones:
- Todo.ly, looks quite useful, simple and under developement. I had so many todo lists, but still the paper is best. This is quite okay so far. And it has an API, could think of what to do with it. Even though it merely a link, does not feel like that. Appness is quite justified, I think.
- 280 Slides, well, I make most of my presentations in Latex/Beamer. But this chould be handy when something's needed quick. Though have to investigate if it can export things in a format other than .pptx (brrrr).
- Write Space, this is one that I would really call an app, since it is really standalone and works offline. Pretty much a PyRoom clone, but a good one. Goal: distraction free writing. I think it gets there. I'd request the ability of editing more than one document, though.
- LucidChart, flowchart, mindmap, wireframe, UI mockup site. Haven't tried it much, kinda "just in case". Seems to be team-oriented, collaborative editing.
- Weeb.ly, website builder. For the ease of it. If there's something I care about I'll create it in a text editor anyway.
- Communications/Mobile:
- Seesmic, a Twitter/Facebook/Linkedin client. Not bad, though I'm not sure how long I will use it: Twitter interface is very similar and already got used to it, Facebook takes up too much of my time already, and I'm on Linkedin not because of the status updates. I feel obliged to try it, though, since on Android it is the one I use.
- Android Push Contacts, regardless the name it is to send SMS from your computer, through your phone. Also, received messages could show up on your desktop/laptop. I installed because it seems like a very convenient idea. I need to think of a reason/recipent to send an SMS, though, 99.99% of my business is email now. It is also open source (the Android part, the AppEngine site and the Chrome extension as well) so could be an interesting source of learning.
- Fiabee, file sync between Chromes and other devices, phones included. Have to try it in detail. Looks like a more flashy Dropbox with smaller space and more features.
- Random
- Google eBooks, also slightly "linky", but feels like a library (well, it should!) so I guess an app is good for this. Going to check my favorite public domain books, I haven't commited myself to buying electronic versions yet.
- Geni, a family tree creator. Great idea and I was looking for proper family tree visualization software before (though the jury is still out on how "great" this is), so I'll probably use it. Feels very weird that the program has so many fields to fill out about every single person - but if I think about it, there's nothing unusual. On the contrary, other sites few "bullet points" hollow out the differences between people. Nevertheless, I'm trying to set the right boundaries between usefulness of the site and my willingness of giving them any info.
