For a long time, I've been using the address of this blog to login to websites that support OpenID. Rather than handling this myself, I used OpenID Delegation to let Google handle the login for me. However, it's always bugged me that due to the requirement of Google Profiles, I've always had to use my GMail account to login:

<link rel="openid2.provider" href="https://www.google.com/accounts/o8/ud?source=profiles">
<link rel="openid2.local_id" href="http://www.google.com/profiles/danny.tuppeny">

That was, until now. With Google+ launching for Google Apps yesterday, we now have profiles URLs for Google Apps accounts! It's as simple as changing the openid2.local_id tag to point at this URL, and now I can use my Google Apps account to login to websites using Open ID without being tied to Google in the future!

<link rel="openid2.provider" href="https://www.google.com/accounts/o8/ud?source=profiles">
<link rel="openid2.local_id" href="https://plus.google.com/113181962167438638669">

In only a few weeks, my use of Google+ is rapidly reducing :-( I really like Google+, and I'd like to use it more, but there are some real issues that make it less worthwhile for me to use than, say Twitter/Email/SMS/etc.

• No Google Apps support
  • The more I post here, the more I'll lose when I Google Apps is supported
  • All of my photos are already on my Apps account (Picasa), which I paid to upgrade storage space for
  • Most of my family don't use Google+ because they don't want "another" account, and I don't want to "support" them getting confused with the two, especially with the login issues Google has since "transitioning"
  • (Google "transitioned" all of our accounts so we can no longer login to both at the same time to "fix" the fact that Google Apps always lagged behind, yet seemingly this isn't fixed at all. Why did they bother?)
• No native iPad app
  • 95% of my time spent on social media is on my iPad, away from home, or on the sofa with the PC off
  • The mobile web app doesn't support things like Huddles or Push Notifications
• No keeping track of what I've read
  • This makes it impossible to just "dip in" and read a few posts, because you end up with read posts/unread posts/read posts in your stream
  • I want to read chronologically
  • I want to read everything from my close friends/family. The current interface just doesn't support this
  • (Almost every Twitter client supports this basic functionality, why don't Google think it's important?)
• No ability to control which circles appear in my main stream
  • My stream gets flooded with semi-interesting people that I have in circles so I can read their posts when I have "extra time", or that I have in circles so I can easily share with them. Eg. I have many non-native English speakers in a circle to keep track of who's helping translate G+ Notifier. Some of them always post in their native language, which isn't really useful to me.
  • (Ironically, Twitter lists solve this problem perfectly, because I can read what those people post when I have extra time, and otherwise keep up with people I follow in my main timeline)
• Share spam
  • I follow a lot of Google employees and when something new is launched, my stream _fills_ with everyone sharing the same post

The first three are pretty much deal-breakers for me. Currently Google+ just feels like a naff copy of Facebook, though almost everyone I know is on Facebook and only a fraction are on Google+. Google+ doesn't seem to offer any functionality aimed at eating away at Twitter.

It's a shame. There is so much potential in Google+, but I think it launched way too early, and Google aren't talking enough to the users. They should have something like Moderator/UserVoice/etc. rather than taking feedback secretly. It would be nice to know whether Google agree with feedback we've raised and it might be implemented, or if they've decided it's not the direction they'd like to take the product in - at least then we wouldn't sit around "waiting".

It's 2011, seemingly "the year of Social". We have Facetime, Google+ Hangouts/Huddles, Facebook video chat, Twitter and iMessage built into iOS, Messenger built into WP7. It sounds like we're making great progress in improving the way we can communicate with our friends. Super!

I really like Google+. I use it a lot. However I think they really screwed up a few things with their launch:

• Restricted invite-only launch (you can't be social without your friends)
• No apps for iOS/WP7 at launch
• No tablet apps at launch
• When iOS app finally launched, won't even install on iPad/iPod Touch (for seemingly no reason)
• No access to huddles in web app/desktop/iPad
• Google Talk and Huddles are not the same...?

Anyway, getting back on track... Not having access to Huddles on my iPad, my iPod Touch, my Windows Phone or my desktop got me thinking about the state of instant messaging... I wondered whether any of the networks actually work on all popular mobile platforms... There are third party client for most networks on most platforms, however they almost always require you hand over the login details to an account that controls far more than just chat. This is completely unacceptable in 2011, the year Sony got ripped to shreds by hackers.

I posted earlier on Google+ that I found it quite incredible that in 2011 nobody had bothered to make their platforms support all instant messaging networks, or that no instant messaging networks had bothered to make sure their network was available on all platforms. Is it so difficult to comprehend that I might want to organise a night out with a group of friends via instant messaging? Google+ Huddles seem to have been designed specifically for this sort of thing, yet you'll see in the table below that it fails, badly.

I created a table to compare the various instant messaging options across platforms. There are a few basic requirements that must be met for a network/platform combination to be considered fulfilled.

• Access must not require handing over a password that controls more than just chat to anyone other than the owner of the network, or the device/OS.
• Access must be "native" to the platform (eg. no iPhone apps on iPad).
• Must be true "instant messaging" that gives useful alerts/push notification (eg. Email notification does not count).

Here are my findings so far. If you spot a mistake, please let me know and I'll update accordingly.

Edit: Added Skype, GTalk on Android Tablet, G+ stuff on iPod Touch.

Network	Win	Mac OS	Web	iPad	iPhone	iPod	Android Tablet	Android Phone	Windows Phone	Blackberry	Num Platforms
Messenger											7
Skype											7
Facebook*											6*
GTalk	*										4*
iMessage											3
G+ Huddle											3
G+ Hangout											1
AIM											3
BBM											1

Items marked * do not support group chat :o(

To me, this is a pretty poor show. Out of 10 popular platforms, not one service is available across them all with built-in/first-party apps (third party apps excluded on security grounds). Messenger and Skype seem to come closest with support on 7 platforms, though Messenger has no support for tablets - you know, those things that are massive this year :-( It's particularly annoying for me to have Messenger on my Windows Phone and have to respond to messages on a tiny on-screen keyboard with my iPad sat next to me doing nothing!

I think the most shocking stat here is that Google have launched Google+ as a social network and have not only introduced two new chat/messaging protocols, but the support for them across platforms is pretty poor. (Please don't give me shit about it being "preview". If my mum can join, it's public. Putting a preview/beta on something is not an excuse for poor support. If it's not ready, don't start shouting about it and letting us all pile in).

Version 1.3 of G+ Notifier (for Google+) recently went live. Unfortunately, due to an error with 1.2, you might not be notified about the update by the application unless you leave it running for 12 hours!

Here's some screenshots of the current version:

Unfortunately, with absolutely no warning, Google suspended the G+ Notifier account I'd created on Google+ to announce updates. I'd asked a number of times whether this was ok, and got no response. As a result, if you want notification of updates without all of my unrelated posts on Google+, the best way is to follow @GPlusNotifier on Twitter. Yeah, really.

Of course, if you don't mind the personal posts, the best place to follow G+ Notifier is my account on Google+.

If you have any ideas and suggestions for G+ Notifier, please submit them to the support site. You can also vote on other peoples suggestions there to influence the things worked on next!

You're also welcome to fork the code and send pull requests. It's a good idea to let me know in advance, just to ensure someone isn't already doing the same thing. There are already a few people (Adam Simmons, The Configurator and Andrew Nurse) contributing to the project!

The first version of my G+ Notifier is now live, ready to download!

The first version is pretty basic, but it's still incredibly useful. It sits in the notification area and shows how many unread notifications you have (and shows balloons periodically). Double-clicking the icon (or single-clicking a balloon) will launch Google+ in your default browser.

For full info and a download link, visit gplusnotifier.com!