Some of the features described below might never become reality, however, I believe that most of the 'wanna-haves' mentioned below will actually be implemented at one point/form or another in a not to distant future (I hope they will ;-) ).
Let's get going then.
- Add extensions (add-ons) to Google Chrome
Like a lot of tech savy people, I've been reading a lot about Google Chrome (and it's open source cousin Chromium) lately; and tried I it out myself for a couple of days. Although that I really like the chrome-experience (that is, it is ultra-fast and really focuses on browsing), the one thing that I really (!) miss in Chrome are extensions. I truly believe Chrome's success depends on how Google will be able to address the extensibility issue.
Add-ons is one of the key things that made Firefox to what it is today.
If Googles Chrome team is smart (and we all know they are); they'll build their extension-framework in such a way that existing Firefox extensions can be used within Chrome with minimal (or no) code-adjustments. In other words, I think they should use the existing XPI-model and try to standardize it even more. Doing so will improve cross-browser extension compatibility and will make Chromium a compelling browser from day one. - Add more file types to Google docs.
As a heavy google docs user, I'd really like to see Google docs support more filetypes (currently only documents, spreadsheets, presentations and pdf's are supported. Images on it's way ?). The concept of having unlimited, omni-present (as in being able to access it from everywhere at any moment) online file storage isn't just an idea anymore. Projects as Dropbox have already proven that (btw, Dropbox should be good acquisition for google).
I do understand that there are some copyright-difficulties to cope with. E.g. users uploading and sharing entire books, movies or music files. Google can surely fix this. One possible solution is to restrict sharing to certain types of media (e.g. spreadsheets, documents). Another would be scanning the media for proprietary content (much like Youtubes "Claim your content" ).
Online storage is of course only half the story; It would be nice if some of those files could be edited too. There are many websites that already provide such services for different media types. Once Google starts accepting more filetypes, it's probably only a matter of time before they start providing similar tools.
Some noticeable online tools are: Snipshot, Photoshop online [image editing], devunity [code editing], monkeytex [latex editor] ,Google mashup editor, etc - Become an OpenID provider
By now it is pretty clear that OpenID will become significantly important in the years to come. Most web developers at least know what it is by now (which was quite different 1 or 2 years ago). However, that can't be said of the average user. Although OpenID is used more often then ever before (list of some sites that support openID), it hasn't had it's big breakthrough, yet.
If Google would become a real OpenID provider (and not 'yet another' through blogger),
I would definitely use it on all of the sites that support OpenID authentication (primarily because my 'main', most important internet account is my Google account.) Google supporting and promoting OpenID could be the breakthrough (as in public acceptance) that OpenID needs at this moment.
(For those of you that already like to use your Google account as an OpenID-profile: take a look at the following appspot [more info about appspots in general ]) - Created a unified profile.
Google has been working on a unified profile (=one profile across different google services) for a while now. It is still a work in progress though. Honestly, I don't really understand why this takes so much time. One would think that creating a general profile shouldn't cause real problems for a company as large as Google.
Here are a few reasons why it might not be as easy as you may think:- Historical reasons (legacy code); as we all know, Google was a search engine first, and became a web service-provider later on. Services as Gmail and Google Docs were (are?) implemented independently. At the time of their conception, there wasn't a need the 'one profile to rule them all'. (Remember the time when you had to register/login for every Google service independently from each other ?). Combining services with totally different authentication models isn't easily achieved.
- Uncertainty; Google hasn't made up it's mind yet. Does it want to become the next Facebook (Google social profile), or does it want to create genuine Internet profiles for their users (something like an Internet passport?). My guess is something in between ;)
- Google wants to do it 'right' from the first time. To do that; they should become an OpenID provider first, and then create a decent profile-page.
- They are secretly working on it ...
- Drastically improve the iGoogle page.
IGoogle is the Google version of personal portals as Netvibes and Pageflakes. Although it already has some nice features (gadgets, themes, etc); it really isn't very attractive yet. The new version of iGoogle (which basically only adds some layout changes compared to the current one), can easily be accessed by doing some javascript magic. The new layout is, to my opinion, definitely better than the current one; but I still feel like I'm missing some things. Although I like opening Gmail and Google Reader within iGoogle (this is one of the few other new features), they look awful in their 'included' form. They also lack basic features when included (e.g. view your feeds in Reader).
Conclusion: Google should continue to work on the 'looks' of the personalized homepage, they should make it look <<sexy>>. - Continue to add nice extensions to the Gmail Lab.
When the Gmail team announced they were introducing gmail labs , I was really enthusiastic. For those who don't know what gmail labs is: It basically allows you to add small extensions to Gmail such as different label colors, fixed font width, etc...
Within time, the Gmail lab has the possibility to make Gmail the ultimate online (offline using Gears ?) e-mail application (although I feel like it's already the best web based email application available). Not only does it allow to customize your email experience (some features that I find useful might be very annoying to others), it also allows the Gmail-team to add much asked for features, without having to change the Gmail experience.
Some features I like to see in Gmail are:- Themes (change the Gmail appearance)
- Attachment Manager (easily search and manage your mail-attachments; would be EXTREMELY nice if this would be integrated in Google Docs).
- To-Do list (including synchronization with portable devices through an existing standard)
- ...
- Create Google Maps for travelers
Agreed, this feature sounds a bit cryptic. What I actually mean is that I'd like to see Maps add some options so that people can easily plan their trips using the service. Not only that, I would be nice if people could keep using the service while on the road. Concretely, this means offline support (using Google Gears); in other words, being able to view maps without being online. Building the technology to achieve this isn't that complex (given Gears). However, the amounts of data (=the actual maps) that would have to be downloaded to someones computer could potentially be enormous.
This is a difficult problem to get rid of, due to high bandwidth costs.
A possible (and logical) solution would be to limit the amount of data a user can download a week/month (e.g. 1 GB) without having to pay a fee. Ideally, the user would be able to determine if he wants to 'spend' his bandwidth on a larger area in a specific resolution, or a smaller region with 'zooming' options.
After a while, already existing features such as route descriptions or searching could be included in this product. (And there are, of course, a lot of new features that can be thinked of.)
(Note: I think this service is not likely to be added soon. But the concept still sounds great) - Improved Linux support
As a big Linux fan/user (Linux Mint ftw), and of various Google applications, it would be nice to see some of the latest updates of Google software released for Linux. I know it's only a matter of time before Picasa 3.0 and Chrome will be released for Linux; but waiting for such great products is pretty hard. Don't get me wrong, I think it's amazing that Google actually does cross-platform releases for all (or for a lot) of their products. It would only be just that bit nicer if the releases were simultaneous.
As opposed to picasa (which uses Wine to run), Google Chrome will run natively on Linux systems, which is always that little bit nicer. - Misc
Besides the previously mentioned points, there are some other features I'd like to see implemented.- Improve protocol support for Google Talk (MSN ?), and general Google Talk experience.
- Find a way to make users 'trust' Google with sensitive information. (E.g.: "Pay $5 a year and we guarantee that your information is safe. If your information is misused by us, or stolen by a third party, we will pay you $$$$".)
- Add storage space to the Picasa web accounts (from 1 GB to 5GB ?)
- ...
I realize that writing this article is primarily for my own enjoyment and won't get to much attention within the online community. If you did read the whole article, and have something to add, feel free to add a comment.
Please, do forgive me for my language mistakes.
People make technology work.
References
Google Chrome features
Google AppEngine
Googlesystem Blog
Official Google blog
Wikipedia
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