Best Web Worker Software of 2007

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.

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