Although there are many varied and exciting uses for computers these days, the most common uses are still, of course, web browsing and email. Email has really revolutionized personal communication, but its many benefits have come with annoying and frustrating attachments. Many people are overwhelmed by their email. Are you one of the overwhelmed? Are you emailing more and enjoying it less?

Next Tuesday night, October 17th, at 6:30 PM, in the large meeting room at Thornton Oaks Retirement Community in Brunswick, help is on the way. It comes in the form of the monthly meeting of our local Apple User Group, MMOOS (Maine Macintosh Owners & Operators Society). After we get caught up on Apple news (including a sneak peek version 3.0 of the Safari web browser, coming soon in Apple’s Mac OS 10.5 “Leopard” operating system), we’ll launch into our feature program, entitled “Taking Control of Your Email”. We’ll cover everything from basic email to email etiquette to more advanced management and organization techniques. There’ll be something for everyone to write home about. You don’t even have to be a Mac user.

For directions to the meeting (and to subscribe to our new “MMOOSdroppings” mail list), point your web browser at mmoos.net. See you there.

Now on to a completely different subject. Google, which started as an internet search engine and has now grown into a full-fledged software giant, has been, in the past, “lukewarm” to the Mac platform. The breathtaking Google Earth mapping and Google SketchUp 3D modeling programs were missing-in-action on the Mac for many months after debuting on Windows. To be honest, some Google programs were of little use on the Mac, mostly due to the Mac already having similar (and often better) capabilities. Mac OS X “Tiger” built a Google Search window right into the Safari web browser. The Mac’s Spotlight integrated desktop search engine out-searches Google Desktop. Google’s Picassa photo organizer, while a welcome relief to the woeful photo support built into Windows, would be hard pressed to compete with iPhoto.

However, Apple and Google are about to get more “chummy”. On August 29th Google CEO Dr. Eric Schmidt joined Apple’s Board of Directors. This week Google opened a new blog announcing far-reaching software support for the Mac, including a dedicated Mac Engineering Team. It’s amazing the difference a little influence “from the top” can make.

© 2006 Peter F. Zimowski