
Hitting send on the next 15 years of Gmail - panarky
https://www.blog.google/products/gmail/hitting-send-on-the-next-15-years-of-gmail/
======
WA
> _You could also store 1GB of data for free—nearly 100 times what was
> available at the time._

"You could also store 1GB of data in exchange for letting us read your emails
and build an Ad profile based on everything you do in Gmail – nearly 100 times
what was available at the time, because no one else dared to do something
similar and had no means to profit from this data."

Privacy-aware folks, it's time to move on if you haven't done already.

~~~
synthc
1GB was an enormous amount at the time. There were even applications out there
that let to mount gmail as a drive, as a sort of free proto-dropbox

~~~
Cthulhu_
I used it to back up some old code in a .zip file; unfortunately, even though
the email is still there, Google isn't letting me download it because it may
contain malicious code according to them (probably .js files).

------
gburdell3
Still lightly salted they killed off Inbox, but at least they rolled most of
its useful features back into Gmail.

~~~
aliljet
Inbox. Sigh, it really feels like inbox users were sold a bill of goods by the
CEO of Google ([https://gmail.googleblog.com/2014/10/an-inbox-that-works-
for...](https://gmail.googleblog.com/2014/10/an-inbox-that-works-for-
you.html)) and for five years with no directive otherwise, most of us
committed to a product that certainly wasn't free (my data is for sale because
I used this tool). Today, I open their app which my data paid for and I'm
greeted with a giant middle finger.

Something seems wrong. Some random PM didn't promise me this product. The CEO
did. This relationship with a giant service provider (Google) feels more like
the relationship I loathe with the average monopolizing telecom. I've been
taken advantage of and my commitment in the end to this, as I learn, unclear
experiment has generated enormous benefits for Google and today results in a
frustrating realisation that I wasted my time trying for years to make it
work.

One day, I really do hope there's a way I can take my email address and leave
Google. Number portability deserves an analog in the email world.

~~~
jodrellblank
_One day, I really do hope there 's a way I can take my email address and
leave Google. Number portability deserves an analog in the email world._

It has one; register your own domain, then you can move it to any registrar
and provider you like.

The analog going the other way would be if you took a Google desk phone number
where people had to dial Google's offices into their phone system and then
dial your extension, and you wanted to take your (Google office + extension)
number elsewhere. That kind of service doesn't exist in the phone number
portability world either.

~~~
aliljet
The problem? I've got an address under Google's gmail domain that's extremely
broadly attached to my identity. Rest assured, I now regret having my identity
attached to some corporation, but myself and probably millions of others are
sitting in the same boat...

~~~
gregknicholson
Register a domain you like and start the transition now. It doesn't have to be
quick.

Gmail has an option to forward all incoming mail to another address, so when
you do eventually leave you won't miss any mail.

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airstrike
I remember being absolutely amazed at how clean, fast and huge Gmail was. This
post brings back great memories. I got an invite as I was an avid blogger user
and signed up as early as 4/20/2004\. Missed out on claiming
firstname@gmail.com since my first name is only 5 letters long...

~~~
wlesieutre
You're probably lucky to not have firstname@gmail.com, it'd be inundated by
idiots who don't know their own email address signing you up for things.

~~~
josteink
> You're probably lucky to not have firstname@gmail.com, it'd be inundated by
> idiots who don't know their own email

Early on, first@gmail.com and yes absolutely.

Even military fucking emails.

~~~
scoutt
> Even military fucking emails.

This will be downvoted, but your comment made me smile for a second, thinking
on what kind of strange pr0n about military is flooding your inbox.

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malvosenior
I _really_ hope I'm not using Gmail in 15 years. Gmail as a product has gotten
progressively worse over the years. Google as a company has gotten
progressively worse over the years. They make the worst product decisions of
all the large tech companies (seriously, how many chat platforms will they
create and kill in those 15 years).

I use Fastmail for somethings but sadly it's not quite as good as Gmail (and
not as bad in many ways). Anyone care to wager what an idealized email
platform will look like in 15 years?

~~~
52-6F-62
> _Anyone care to wage what an idealized email platform will look like in 15
> years?_

Now this is a good question. I've wondered (half-assedly) myself recently.
I've been on the gmail hook since 2005 (I remember getting approved for the
Beta and how in awe I was of having a whole GB of online storage).

I've grown so accustomed to the use of gmail that I have a hard time
distinguishing what it is that really holds me there. One item is ubiquity.
Everyone knows it now so there's no ambiguity about the address as long as one
knows the name I use. That's not a huge detail, but one minor feature I find I
don't have to think about.

Outside of that I think the main deterrent to changing is the migration
process. It sucks.

I'm hesitant to move from one external provider to another as my faith in the
longevity of other services has waned over the years. That said I'm also
hesitant to run my own node because of the maintenance and security concerns.

I'm not abreast to any innovations in the space, however. I'd also love to
hear from others who might have a lot more experience and knowledge in the
area.

~~~
ocdtrekkie
One of the things I do miss about Gmail is how a lot of restaurant receipt
systems and the like have an "@gmail.com" button, but I have to type my full
email address out every time, it's definitely a longer process to read over
the phone too.

I recommend even if you are not ready to migrate away from Gmail though, to
hedge your bets and make the migration process easier _eventually_. Get an
email address at your own domain name, and forward it straight to your Gmail.
Over time, adjust all your accounts and contacts to send to your new,
forwarded address. Then if it any time, you need to move providers, all you
have to do is change where your address is forwarded to (and of course, use
IMAP to drag all your old emails from Gmail to the new service). I spent about
a year and a half using Gmail, but migrating things over to my own email
address. Make it a lot easier when the time came.

~~~
52-6F-62
That's pretty good advice.

I have, in the past, maintained my own email address but found I often gave up
after a while—mainly due to saturation of my existing address.

But with a bit of dedication it does sound like your advice would at least be
a helpful stop-gap for the future. Thanks.

~~~
ocdtrekkie
The big thing with this strategy is that all your mail continues to go to the
same place. You're just updating accounts when you log into them, and see "oh,
that's still using my Gmail address". But it doesn't add a lot of stress or
multiple places to check your email.

------
ken
Full automatic replies remind me of the demos of the robot calling on the
phone to book an appointment. It's slightly creepy, and I wish there were an
indicator that it was written by machine.

Even with plain autocorrect, these days, it's scary how often I read something
and later discover it's not at all what the author intended.

I can't think of any software feature, offhand, with "Smart" in the name that
I didn't end up hating and wanting to disable. Why do companies keep pushing
these?

~~~
panarky
I've found the smart reply feature to be moderately useful.

Some people wire their homes to turn on lights and TVs when they get home. I
don't find that creepy because I know that it's just an electro-mechanical
process.

Same thing with ML-driven features like smart replies. It's amazing, but it's
just math and logic, so I don't find it creepy.

More of this, please.

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azhenley
I remember just how different Gmail felt compared to everything else back
then. When is something going to come along and revolutionize email again?

~~~
airstrike
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Wave](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Wave)

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Justin_K
Finally, official support for scheduled send!

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yodon
I know we're all supposed to love gmail but I find Outlook (including the free
web based versions on hotmail.com and outlook.com accounts) to be a far better
fit to the way I want to handle messages than gmail.

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mark_l_watson
I probably won’t see the improvements in G Suite for a (long?) while but that
is OK. I use G Suite for Cloud Search that gives me one Search form for all my
stuff on Drive, Gmail, docs, etc. Still, I wish they would be faster rolling
new stuff out to paying customers.

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everdev
Many people have multiple Gmail addresses (personal, work, etc.), but as far
as I know there's no way way too unify them.

In Chrome you need two tabs open and in the mobile app there's no way to
default to 'All Inboxes'.

It's a huge pain point.

~~~
JRKLabs
The official Gmail app, DOES have an "All Inboxes" feature now. It's a life
saver!

~~~
everdev
The mobile app does, but you can't default to it, so you have to do two taps:
"Menu" -> "All Inboxes" every time you open the app if that's the view you
prefer.

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craftinator
"First off, we’re making Gmail more assistive"

Please, just fucking stop. I know how to write my own emails; everyone does.
Every single assistive feature introduced to Gmail has been a regression.

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pieter_mj
I like Gmail's interface in the "Gmail's 15th Birthday"-video much better than
the current one!

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Yuioup
Is Gmail still made with Angular?

~~~
Cthulhu_
Was it ever? It predates Angular by at least 5 years (iirc Angular was first
conceived in 2009 and used for google's help pages)

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matthewfelgate
Bring back Inbox.

