Google has announced the launch of a new scheduling tool for its popular Google Calendar product which should make it easier to schedule get-togethers.
Principally designed for meeting organisation, the 'Smart Rescheduler' has launched in Google Labs, and treats the thorny problem of finding out when everybody is available like it would an internet search.
"On the Google Calendar team, we've noticed that when people talk about scheduling they say things like "I'm trying to find a time" or "let's search for a new date", explains Google's Ken Norton.
"We wondered what would happen if we treated calendaring more like a search problem.
"Just as Google search applies ranking algorithms to return the most relevant results from the web, we hoped we could rank meeting times based on criteria important to the person scheduling the meeting.
Google Smart Rescheduler
"Today we're launching the result of that experiment, a gadget called Smart Rescheduler, in Google Calendar Labs.
"Once you enable the Lab, you can find a new time for an event simply by clicking on a link.
"Our schedule search algorithm will return a ranked set of the best candidate dates and times based on the calendars others have shared with you."
Google is, of course, desperately trying to wrest market share from Microsoft, particularly from businesses – who pay for services plus support.
The fruit of the work being done by Google to boost their cloud based productivity tools – like calendar – also benefits the consumers who are not paying for the services.
