The Future Of Google Notebook

I am predicting the following pathway / roadmap / architecture direction that leads to something similar to G-Notebook ... and my "reputation" as a mostly anonymous blogger is on the line (oooh). Foundational elements first:

1. Google Chrome OS. If you haven't heard about it, you've been in hiding or have an actual life. This is G's play to get into the backbone of portable computers (iPhone, netbooks, etc). Throw in Android and you have a cheap, open, system to run any light weight computer. Applications will reside mostly online (the infamous "cloud"). They can build on later for fuller functionality outside of the mobile platform domain.
2. Google Chrome will get "push" synchronization. It will start with Bookmarks (and remember how much Google Bookmarks looked like G-Notebook?). This will compete directly against "X-Marks" for Firefox on the Chrome browser? If it works well, it will be a very nice feature for Chrome users.
3. Google Voice.
4. Google Wave.

Let me go back to 6 months ago, when G removed their toolbar from Chrome. Here are two quotes from that time:

"Removed the option to import bookmarks from Google bookmarks. We think we can improve this feature, so we're pulling it out until we come up with something better"

"Remove 'Google Toolbar' as an option for importing bookmarks. The user experience without the ability to keep bookmarks synchronized is not good. We decided to pull this and work on a better user experience."

My expectation is that G will not only sync bookmarks, but will reinstate a Note-Taking type of application similar to what is embedded in the Opera browser on Chrome. The risk is that they try to merge Notebook and Documents into one application. That is clearly not a good option. The other downside is that this would be tied to the use of Chrome which is not allowed in many corporate locations. This integration with synchronization will continue into their OS.

In summary, I believe this is where the Big G wants to go:

• Google OS / Android integration on any hardware
• Google Chrome browser on any hardware (operating more like a virtual desktop)
• Push synchronization for Bookmarks, Web Notes, G-Account Details, Contacts, Social Networking, Browsing history, Communication History, OS Settings (imagine your desktop being the same on whatever computer you use), communication settings, (using Chromium Sync / Chrome Wave / G-Voice).
• All voice communications through Google Voice (Over IP) with push synchro, comm. history, "Unified Messaging", and customized rings following you wherever you are logged in or as pre-defined in your Google Voice contact settings
• Capabilities to take and access notes on web, voice, IM, or any application
• Primarily cloud based applications (Google Apps) with minimal download (G-Gears) for offline usage

This will mean that as long as you use Chrome, you will have access to all of your online life on any platform (fixed or mobile) either online or offline. The idea would be to leverage existing G-Assets to drive Chrome / G-OS adoption. Huh? Google wants to own all communication and computing.

Google Wave??

So our "friend" G is introducing Google Wave sometime "later this year". Interesting video on their official page here (1 hour and 20 minutes is a bit long for a preview ... but I'll deal with it- barely). There is a briefer product overview here.

They're calling it a "communications and collaboration" product. It's very unclear to me all what it can do and probably won't until it comes out, however, there is a good amount of excitement (and funding) around this product. There is discussion on the still active Official Google Notebook blog as to whether Wave will be a/the replacement to Notebook. Overall, no consensus is appearing about Wave.

But the OVERIDING consensus is and remains:

1. We want Notebook to continue being developed ... not Docs, Wave, etc.



2. We want the Notebook extensions



3. If 1 and 2 are not possible ... we want the code or open source Notebook



4. Google has significantly injured their reputation and trust amongst it's most loyal users



5. Google has completely ignored our pleas

Google ??? Any response? Do you really even care about us anymore? Where is the love?

I think I now know what it feels like to be a scorned lover that is slowly becoming a creepy stalker? Weird huh?

Anybody Used "Tomboy"?

Came across what appears to be another "Notebook" replacement called Tomboy. Sounds interesting. Would like someone who has used it to give feedback in the notes.

http://projects.gnome.org/tomboy/features.html

Thanks.

Open Source Notebook Initiative

Very little happening on the Google Notebook front (unfortunately). It really seems like they've not only dropped the support for this product, but also completely ignored the backlash that their decision has made. I have made reference to driving Google towards GPL'ing the product in order to open source Notebook, but they seem to have no interest in taking this action. Recently, this comment was added to our blog:

hey there.
i saw your comment on the google notebook blog about the notebook app development being stopped.
im trying to mobilise a team/collective to take Notebook to open source.
If you're interested, please email me on misteka at gmail dot com
thanks
Misteka.

This is great. I am fully behind this person's initiative and would be more than happy to help. Anyone else?

Is Notebook being integrated into Google Reader? I'm sure tons of us are as addicted to Reader as we were on Notebook so, it seems like it would be a good idea.

A couple readers have commented on seeing a "Notes" section in their Google Reader ... and I also see it (and have for quite a while, but had little interest in playing with it since I had Notebook). Now, I've been messing around with it somewhat, and it is certainly not a complete Google Notebook replacement by any means.

It does allow you to save some Google Reader items into this "Notes" area and add text if you'd like ... or for that matter, you can simply add a text note by itself quite easily.

In addition, you can add a Java script Link in your "favorites" and have a button to click to "add to notes" when browsing other sites. Each note is defaulted to become a "Shared items" which I consider a bad move. However, you can override this default.

I can probably used this Notes function in Reader for some of my prior Notebook functions ... but right now, it's just not a good replacement. I guess the real question is whether this can or will be developed to integrate some of the Notebook functionality??? Thoughts?