Google Apps in Ubuntu [Plus my favorite Mail/Calendar/Note apps]
I love things that are beautiful and easy to use. With that said, unfortunately most open source developers don’t have the time or the energy to make gorgeous products for the 2% of their population that aren’t running Windows/Android/iOS/OSX so that’s kind of a bummer. However, more and more developers are noticing that they can just make a “Google Chrome” application and have it treated like a real stand-alone application in most operating systems. This has become kind of a fun workaround for having more applications that look awesome in your Linux setup.
Without further ado, here’s a few Google Chrome applications that I swear by and make the conversion from a traditional operating system to Linux easier. Obviously the prerequisite for these is that you have Chrome installed but it’s my favorite browser so I’m going to go ahead and assume you already do.
Sunrise #
I really like Sunrise because it’s beautiful. It makes it easy to see what you’ve got coming up and it includes calendars from all the different parts of your life. I don’t have my configured for my work calendar but it’s got my personal Google account and it’s got Facebook integrated so I see those events too. It’s pretty simple to use and it’s a Chrome application that when you install in Linux becomes a searchable application in your system like any other. It even has it’s own icon in the icon bar.
Postman #
This is mostly for those of you who are web developers but I wanted to highlight it anyways because it’s another Chrome app that shows up as a stand-alone application in Ubuntu which makes it easy to pin to the Launcher and access it easily. I’m a big fan. If you’re dealing with REST endpoints for work, I love this tool, check it out.
These next few aren’t stand-alone chrome apps but they’re beautiful and how I get by with a minimally supported operating system when I love good design. Enjoy!
Evernote #
Evernote has been a favorite of mine for a long time when it comes to organizing my crazy mind and all my scattered thoughts. I use it for a bunch of different stuff but you can basically do whatever you want with it. I’ll maybe do a post on this later, but if you haven’t tried the web application, I highly suggest you do. It’s very pretty.
Inbox #
Currently Inbox is by invite only but if you can, get your hands on it. It’s another beautiful addition to anyone’s workflow and has made checking my personal email at work a lot nicer of an experience.
That’s it for now, sorry for the long post, just wanted to highlight some of the better options for people who don’t like the ugliness that comes with a lot of native Linux applications.