In Ubuntu Oneiric 11.10 it's possible to configure a Google Online Account. I'm able to configure this program to get access to Mail, Contacts, Calendar and Chat.
But which programs use this data? There is no information about that.
After I configured my Google Account, I supposed that I will be able to use Google Chat with Empathy, or that I will be able to access my Contacts and Calendar in Thunderbird.
But none of this is true. So, how does Ubuntu use the configured Google Accounts?
Best Answer
The idea is that those types of accounts should be configured in one place and then all other programs can get your identities. Your email clients, IM clients, VoIP, photo albums, etc.
Obviously, any tool must exist before applications can start to use it, so it's no surprise that many applications doesn't use this yet. I thought at least Empathy would use this now, though?