Google Voice is on its way into our lives. How do you think this will/might/could/should/would have an effect on education -- whether running a classroom, a school, or more...
Google Voice is a free service that offers "one number for life," so that one incoming call to that number gets forwarded to all your other numbers — work, mobile, home or hotel room. Users get free calls across the United States and international rates cheaper than Skype. Landlines, computers and cellphones can all access its services.
...with Google Voice, no matter who makes your phone, or sells you minutes or bills your land line, Google will always be involved.
And here, with my emphasis, is the money quote:
"This makes Google the hub of your communications center. That should be enough to make Microsoft worried for Outlook and the telcos worried for the scale of Google's ambitions" says Arnold [principal at J. Arnold Associates, a firm that focuses on IP research and communications], "When you control the address book, you control the customer, so to speak."
You ready to drop Outlook?
My district hasn't even gotten everyone to Outlook or Entourage. Man, are we behind.
ReplyDeleteI have already abandoned outlook personally and in my side business. As for district email, the archaic system they use is cumbersome.
ReplyDeletePeople actually use Outlook?
ReplyDeleteThere are so many security issues with Outlook that we banned it from our networks, when I was working in IT. Behind our backs, someone used Outlook on a work computer, which in-turn infected every computer on our network...took us three, long days to clean up the mess.
My district uses FirstClass, which is not bad.
Google can be a bit over zealous, which makes sense when you hire the best and the brightest to create the next generation of applications. They have their heads in the cloud (of ideas and possibilities) and not in the law books. So long as there are folks bring back Google to reality and conservative America, as well as those who think twice about their privacy, checks and balances will be made.
It might be good for contact parents. Especially with cell phones replacing land lines, new numbers with new cell phones, and, unfortunately, lost jobs and work numbers, it's important to have at least one working contact number. But it is questionable, since it requires the user to update their own information. Some of our parents are not much beyond being children themselves.