Google deals deathblow to paper. OK maybe not.

The Holy Grail of computing (there’s a lot of those, aren’t there?) for businesses is the paperless office. Since computers gained a foothold in the 1980s, many have dreamed of replacing all that paper strewn around their office with a simple, clean machine. The reality is, paper is pretty efficient. It’s easy to use, requires no tech support, and is familiar. Google kept those things in mind when they developed the Tasks app in Gmail Labs. The goal, like so many before them, was to improve on paper to the point that Tasks replaced paper. The biggest advantage paper had over Tasks, portability. Not anymore according to Google.

As of February 2, Tasks can be managed directly by iPhones and Android based devices, and the Tasks site can be accessed by any browser that supports xhtml, which includes many cell phone browsers. The cell phone browser version has all the same functionality as the PC browser version, allowing you to create new tasks and check off old ones. Will this replace paper? Don’t bet on it. But it may prevent my wife from washing all my important to do lists.