Google does this for free!?
Google is amazing. I just recently helped get First UMC switched over to Google Apps for all of our email and calendar functions, and the functionality they offer (in a free product, especially) is phenomenal. We can set up all the accounts we need to handle email, advanced calendar functions with sharing and synchronization, realtime document sharing and collaboration, and intra-net web sites. We are using the fantastic email service for web based access as well as desktop and mobile synchronization/support. It isn’t a local MS Exchange server, but I have never been disappointed with the IMAP update speed or any calendar sync functions. Everything has been fantastic, and again, we are using the free option. Google offers a reasonably priced paid product for Google Apps that many large corporations are using, even switching from Microsoft Exchange solutions to go to Google Apps with pretty much the same Gmail and Google Calendar we all know and love.
Even if you don’t need to set up a business or organization with email accounts or other functions, you owe it to yourself to switch from whatever web based email service you are using to Gmail and start taking advantage of robust IMAP synchronization (auto updating and synced folders, sent messages, archives from your mobile, desktop client, and web) and the fantastic Google Calendar. There are even many products and applications (if it isn’t already natively supported that is) to handle sync between your mobile device (Google Android, iPhone, Blackberry, Windows Mobile, and more), desktop workstation (MS Outlook, Mozilla Thunderbird, and more), and Google’s servers. Even free Gmail accounts offer over 7GB of storage and a fantastic conversation view email threading.
Here is a quick overview of the service.
