Google, not content with being the first choice for search online, now wants to be the first choice to organise your life. The company today launched Google Calendar, a free web calendar service.

Available to all with a Google account, users will be able to schedule events and share them with others via the browser-based application.

Google Calendar, available at www.google.com/calendar, offers a number of easy to use features including a drag and drop interface and the ability to see you diary, 1 day, 4 days, a week and a month at a time.

Users will also be able to set out their events in a schedule as well as being able to print the information to take away with them.

Furthermore Google has said that users of its Gmail email system will be able to integrate events mentioned in Gmail conversations or saved in other calendar applications.

The search engine has also added the option of sharing your calendar with others and similar to Microsoft's Outlook allow them to RSVP to meetings you set up.

Those with extremely busy lives can not only get the calendar to remind them of events via SMS, but also run multiple calendars from the same log-in, so you can have one for business, home and whatever else you care to run a separate calendar for.

Microsoft and Yahoo will both be looking on with a keen eye as to how the take up of the new service goes. Yahoo for the effects on its own calendar service and Microsoft because of the business implications against its Outlook calendar package.

Because the system is browser based, it does mean that Apple Mac users are able to benefit from the new application along with PC users. Additionally the offering is global rather than just for US web users.

>> Google - Official website of Google