I love this new Flash web application called Goowy. As you may have guessed it's name comes from gui, or Graphical User Interface. It looks awsome, almost beautiful, and it's very functional. The screenshots below may give you some idea of what it looks like, and what it does.
Goowy's IM feature supports Goowy's own IM system, as well as AIM, MSN, Yahoo, and ICQ
Me IMing sylzayz in Goowy
Goowy's file storage system takes box.net and puts a nice clean interface and some new features on it
Goowy's email system. You get your own goowy email, plus you can forward it from other email providers (eg. Gmail)
Goowy also has contacts, a calendar, flash games, widgets, spell check, and more...
Here's some in depth info:
Email:
When you register for a goowy account you get the email address [your user name]@goowy.com! My goowy adress is KeatonB@Goowy.com if anybody cares. You can also use POP to get your email from other services like GMail or Hotmail. It's got a nice interface (as everything in goowy does) and makes it easy to reply, delete, organise, and more. When you are composing mail it has a spell checker, I think it's the only online mail client that does this.
IM:
First I should clear up that the IM and File Storage features will not be released to non beta testers for about a week. I managed to get a beta version of these features by emailing comments@goowy.com . Anyway, with the IM feature you can log on to Goowy IM, MSN, Yahoo, AIM, and ICQ all in one place. It imports your contacts and everything. It's fast and skinnable, and you can pop open windows separate from your browser to chat if you want. I think that this is the first ever online IM system, but I should probably check that.
Calendar:
With the goowy calendar you can keep track of your day. Send invites to other people to remind them of meetings (or chats on Goowy IM). It's got a color code and everything, and it reminds you a set amount of time before events happen. If you're looking for an online calendar, I think goowy calendar is the way to go.
Games:
Goowy has licenced quite a few flash games from other sites to put on their site. The list of games just keeps on growing. I think it pretty much explains itself.
File Storage:
As I mentioned earlier, this feature is still in beta testing, so if you get an account now, it will not be there. The file storage feature uses box.net. If you've heard of it, you'll know that it's an online file storage tool. Many people didn't like the interface, and thought that the connection was kinda flaky. The goowy team has solved this problem FOREVER! As you can see in one of the screenshots above, the goowy file storage system takes box.net, wraps an awsome interface around it, solves all flakyness, then adds features like an online photo viewer. It's just awsomeness!
Contacts:
Goowy's contact list can be imported from certain email clients (Gmail is one of them, i'm not sure of the others). You can put all of the information you want in there. I'm using it as my contacts list and my address book. I had some problems importing them in the first place, but now the problems have been fixed bby the almighty goowy team!
Mini's (Widgets):
Mini's are just goowy's way of saying widgets. Mini's can be RSS feeds, weather, email summary, and more. No expandability yet, but it may come eventually. Goowy has a built in blog reader, so i'm using the mini's for all of my feeds. Also, you can listen to audio podcasts straight from goowy! Now that is cool.
Hmm, so it works like Trillian, except that it appears to have a very Mac-like interface.
Which isn't at all surprising, as you appear to be using a Mac.
...
Sorry, semitransparent windows offend me.
Go Moon!
Pete Nattress Cheesy Bits img src/uploads/sccheesegif
Registered 23/09/2002
Points 4811
7th April, 2006 at 02:16:57 -
More "Web 2.0" stuff here: slick, functional, but totally pointless. There's nothing here you won't find in stuff like Gmail, Trillian or Outlook. And personally, for me it's inconvenient to have that sort of stuff embedded in a browser.
It's not pointless. It's saved me from having about 10 browser or MSN windows open at once. Do you know what that does to my memory. Goowy makes everything easier, and it couldn't hurt that it looks great (just like Mac OS Sex). It keeps all your messengers in one place, and loga you on to all of them automagically. I love GMail and all, but it looks awful, and it doesn't have a calender or games, or MSN support or anything. It is very responsive, and fast. It beeps when you get a new message, and if you want you can open each conversation in a new browser window.
Oh, and Mac's are fast and pretty. They're just too expensive. I guess i'll switch to Linux then...