Light, fast, and shiny, many Web apps have the futuristic feel of a bullet train. They also have numerous advantages over desktop apps: There’s nothing to install, they don’t take up any hard drive space or RAM, they’re quick and easy to access, and you don’t ever have to worry about using an outdated version. But Web apps ride on the rickety rails of a browser, and that means that every Web app you run has all your browser’s problems with incompatibility, instability, and resource-hogging.
Best known for its slick way of slipping the Start Menu into Windows 8, innovative app platform Pokki (pronounced “poke-key”) brings Web and mobile apps—including some which are exact replicas of websites—right to the desktop of any Windows PC running XP on up. There are hundreds of Pokki apps to choose from, but you have to get started somewhere. These five essential Pokki apps will fulfill all your basic Web needs without ever touching your browser.
Staying connected
The Web is all about communication. Gmail Lite is an incredibly lightweight Gmail client that takes email out of your browser and brings it, with a twist, to your desktop. The best part of having Gmail on your desktop is the real-time notifications; these come in pop-up banners as well as little tray badges, and ensure no email goes unnoticed. Gmail Lite sits in your Windows tray, and with one click, gives you access to all your emails, including labels, starred and sent emails. You can easily perform various Gmail actions such as assigning labels, starring and unstarring, archiving, and, of course, reading and writing emails.
Gmail Lite is almost perfect, but it is missing several crucial features: You cannot attach files; there is no in-email spellchecking; you cannot choose which email address to send from in case you own several, and (the most painful) the search feature doesn’t work. Nevertheless, Gmail Lite is an excellent client for most Gmail features, and its multiple-user support really seals the deal.
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Source: FULL ARTICLE at PCWorld

