Yeah really! When I first read on Search Engine Watch that Google has released Google Calendar, it was more life a dream come true for me.

Now I am a GMail addict! I ditched MS Outlook a long time ago. GMail works great at managing my communications and my contacts. However, the only thing that I was missing was my calendar and tasks manager.

My first impression (more about it a wee bit later) of Google Calendar is that it is plain fucken awesome! The way it is all AJAXed up is simply great. Only if they would integrate it more tightly with GMail and GTalk (reminders via GTalk would be great), which I bet they will at a later stage.

Sidenote : If you are anti-google (hey Jeremy, that’s you ) or if you are too worried of Google taking too much control of your life — and have a habit of ranting too much about it, I recommend that you read further at your own risk.

1. It’s all AJAXed up! — Seriously, just like GTalk, it is fast and makes the task of managing your calendar a breeze!

To add an event, all you need to do is click on the calendar area and a bubble pops up. All you need to do is fill it up and voila!

That’s not all! If you want to add more details then you can click on Edit Event Details and it leads you to a page where you can fill in all the details about the event to your heart’s desire.

And to further navigate the calendar, all you need to do is to click the tabs and it opens just like mail in GMail does — after all, both are AJAXed up.

You gotta use it once to feel it…

2. Sharing / Privacy made easy. You can share your whole calendar with public or decide it on event-by-event basis or on per-person basis! Jeeze! That’s kewl.

3. Quick Calendar Sync. — Wanna sync your calendar with your Friend’s or other public calendar (which also syncs your national holidays!)? Google Makes it a breeze!

4. Notifications Rock. Google Calendar has an awesome notification system — either via eMail, SMS or Pop-up. Even though SMS notifications seem a good idea but I would have loved it if they had support for Indian carriers.

Hey, I would be happy if they actually integrate upcoming events in my GMail interface and send me reminders via GTalk.

1. Tasks Please. Hey Google, can we have a tasks feature like we have in Outlook? Oh make sure you add a tagging feature to it.

2. Better GMail / GTalk integration. SEW claims that Gmail users will soon find a new feature that recognizes events in mail messages and gives them an opportunity to add the event to your Google Calendar.

That’s great! But can we have an even tighter integration with GMail and GTalk? I would love it if you can have a quick overview of upcoming events in my inbox and notification via GTalk?

3. Better PDA Integration. Rather than having to import-export calendars in iCal or CSV formats, can we have an easier way to integrate this calendar with our PDA.

4. India Alerts Please. Oh please hook-up with some Indian carrier to offer SMS alerts here. Yeah I know it’s selfish.

Oh as for we web-publishers, Google is also offering a “remind me with Google Calendar” button that lets you add events from web sites that display the button with just a couple of clicks. Awesome!

I can think of so many uses of this feature to use this as a marketing vehicle. Maybe I would share them once I try them out.

Conclusion — Overall, a good show Google. There is still some scope of improvement but I am extremely happy with what they have come-up with. I am sure they are going to keep improving it.

Oh on a sidenote, if you are interested, you can read Google Calendar Privacy Policy here.

Wanna try it first hand? Here’s the link to Google Calendar. If you already have a Google account, you can start using it straight away. Otherwise you will need a GMail invitation (buzz me if you want one).