Best Web Worker Software of 2007
December 31st, 2007 (11:00am) Mike Gunderloy 7 Comments
Last year, WWD then-Editor Anne Zelenka picked Gmail as her Best Web 2.0 Software of 2006. This year, I got to wondering what my best Web Worker Software of 2007 was. I’m using a rather different set of criteria this time around: which web site is essential to my online productivity? Put another way, what part of the web couldn’t I work without? That’s where I’ll find my winner.
For me, the answer ends up being a three-way tie. Maybe I’m just wishy-washy, but my online career actually depends on hundreds or thousands of web sites as I cruise around, absorb information, and deliver value to my customers. But out of all of them, I can pick three that have made the biggest bottom-line difference for me, though in three different ways.
- Google - Not any of the particular Google services, but Google search itself. Oh, I use Maps and Documents and Groups and Mail and Calendar, but I must tap Google’s index twenty times or more on the average day. I’ve tried other search sites, I’ve tried client-side tools to manage the process, and I just keep coming back to the dominant player in the field and my experience and getting the results I want from it.
- Twitter - We’ve been over the love/hate relationship people have with Twitter before, but for me, it really is a business tool. With over 200 people on my Twitter list, it’s not only where I have conversations, it’s where I pick up news and information, and where I can ask questions with a decent chance of getting pointed in the right direction. Part distraction and safety valve, part group mind and distributed memory, it works for me.
- Ruby on Rails - I’m a software developer by trade (well, when I’m not being a writer), and this was the year I finally made the transition to working completely on the web using open-source tools. I couldn’t have done it without Ruby, Rails, and the community that’s sprung up around them.
That’s my top three - but yours are probably different. Web work is a big tent, and although we all work on the web, we do so in many different ways. If you’ve got a few moments to reflect as we head into the new year, feel free to add your own choices for Best Web Worker Software of 2007 to the comments.
7 Comments Post your own comment
Chris Poteet says: December 31st, 2007 11:33am
That’s it? Those are your 3? Anything that we might not know about? For me Harvest and Assembla were great additions.
Judi Sohn says: December 31st, 2007 12:46pm
My vote goes to Salesforce, Box, and Basecamp. A great deal of our organization’s productivity as a whole hinges around those sites. There’s always something new, but these apps have been around long enough that I could trust they wouldn’t disappear anytime soon.
Personally, I couldn’t live without Grand Central.
Jeff O'Hara says: December 31st, 2007 12:55pm
My vote goes to Twitter, Google Apps, WordPress.
-Jeff
http://blog.zemote.com
Marshall Kirkpatrick says: December 31st, 2007 3:04pm
I found Twitter, Netvibes Mobile and Google CSE best for me over the past year.
Jon Moss says: December 31st, 2007 3:31pm
Hmmm… a few for me
- Google maps, reader and mail
- WordPress
- Basecamp and Highrise
- Lightroom (I’m a photographer too!)
Tom Wilkins says: January 2nd, 2008 6:25am
I’m using NomaDesk
and for me, this collaboration tool is definitely my Best Web Worker
Software. Why? Because it’s the only collaboration tool - at
least I know of - that allows me to work on shared files even when I’m
not connected to the internet and on top of that, they recovered all my
data when my portable was stolen 2 months ago… More than enough
reasons to mention them.
Raj says: January 2nd, 2008 5:44pm
For me, Google apps for my personal domain have been a huge help. I use the personalized Gmail service all the time at and away from my home-office. Grand Central is another web-app that get’s my vote.