Six-hole-puncher 2.0
June 9, 2007
I was trying to switch to a paperless office for quite a time. Working on different computers and different operating systems it was impossible to find a tool or a set of tools that worked for me.
And from the functionality aspect I saw nothing comparable to my black paper based organizer. I was even thinking about buying a six-hole-puncher to implement ;-) some extensions or even simply to extend the useful life of my organizer.
So called Web 2.0 solutions were getting better and better and most of them are trying to support open standards like iCalendar or provide information via RSS or Atom feeds. So I found the solution of my dreams.
With Web 2.0 style aggregators you do not need to commit to one service provider. You can easily aggregate from different sources. For example, I’am using the Netvibes as an aggregator, calendar from Google, bookmark service from del.icio.us You can choose from about a zillion of widgets and gadgets or write your own. There is also a universal iframe widget. This one I use especially often in connection with my own server-based html scraping and aggregation scripts.
Netvibes is one of the pioneers of the Web 2.0 style portals. It works really well, even if it is called beta. I mean as opposite to really buggy iGoogle - more on bugs in the next post. Do not understand me wrong. I like google and all its applications. But they are simply not so mature and so all-embracing as netvibes gadgets. But I am afraid, a small French startup has no chance against the two Godzillas of the web. And do not forget the third, junior partner from Redmond, they have also somehow detected this Web 2.0 buzz.