I was checking my blog stats over my morning coffee (as you do) and saw a referrer from Netvibes. Not being familiar with Netvibes, I went to check it out.
I can't even tell you how sexy an application Netvibes is. I'm not a big fan of integrated web desktops because none of them do it all really well. I'm an avid user of My Yahoo, but its a little clunky. I've tried to use the personalised Google page, but it's not any better than My Yahoo, so why switch?
Netvibes makes me want to switch. And you know why? The elegance and charm of their interface. These folks have really pushed Ajax to do some very finessed interactions. I've only started playing around with it, but they have a lot of pre-defined modules to plug into your page. They also have an "ecosystem" which is a directory of content and services that is managed by Netvibe's user community. Techcrunch has an extensive review of Netvibes' ecosystem. And Netvibes also has an open API to encourage module development.
But my favourite thing about Netvibes? The Screen Panel (one of the widgets for changing your settings). Not a lot of fancy options. And some real, down-to-earth language. For example: "Give RSS more space? [checkbox] Do it!"
Oh, my *other* favourite thing? Their blog! Great example of a beta software blog. They have a list of features (based on user feedback) that they are working on and whose status is posted. And for every entry where they introduce a new feature or a feature upgrade, they have a neat little screencam-y demo so you can see how to use it. So elegant.
Cher Netvibes .. you lovely piece of Parisian software.
Update: Sandy's on the Netvibes wagon too!!