

Ask HN: Will web-based email ever catch up to or replace desktop email clients? - wayno

Web-based email clients like Gmail &amp; Yahoo mail are highly functional, have the available-anywhere benefit, and run with the support of some serious server muscle (so things like search can be fast and awesome). Plus they don’t bring your computer to a grinding halt. However, as advanced as the web has become they are arguably still clunky, and lack the Pizzaz and responsiveness of desktop mail clients like Outlook and Apple Mail. For something that we use every day, those things are important.<p>Given the convenience of web-based mail clients (and barring the obvious downsides like a full store of offline email) - have they finally come of age to replace their desktop equivalents?
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27182818284
As I've mentioned on HN before, I'd _really_ like to see The Next Gmail. (I
thought it would maybe occur as Google opened up on Gmail a bit this last June
[http://googleappsdeveloper.blogspot.com/2014/06/introducing-...](http://googleappsdeveloper.blogspot.com/2014/06/introducing-
new-gmail-api.html))

With time my experience with Gmail keeps degrading and I'm to the point where
I notice myself browsing around the web for other options like FastMail and
such. I haven't seen anything overwhelmingly better, at least not in the way
that Gmail was when it first appeared.

The original Gmail, when it came out and you had to be invited in and such,
was _mind-blowing_ better than the competition. I've not seen any update to
any Google service since that so clearly was above the competition. Recall
that it was _so good_ people thought it was one of their April Fool's Day
hoaxes.

Since then, if anything, I've seen Gmail degrade with time. I get more spam
now than ever. (And the spam comes in different forms such as via Gmail
Chat/Hangouts), the interface is laggy to me on a MacBook Pro with 20mbit↓
connection, and new innovations like the Google Voice merging are always
buggier than what they called "Beta" in Gmail circa 2005->2009.

~~~
wayno
Ok, it wasn't a loaded question (promise), but seeing that you feel that way
about Gmail you may be interested in a new email product we've been building
over the last year called Sortd.

It tries to create a radically enhanced email experience (Email 2.0 if you
will) without the necessity to switch to a new email client. We call it a
Smart Skin for Gmail because it transforms the Gmail Inbox into something much
more - allowing you to place emails on a set of priority lists along side your
tasks, with drag and drop sorting, due dates etc.

If you are interested, you are welcome to skip the Private Beta queue by going
to [http://get.sortd.com](http://get.sortd.com) \- I created an invite code
for you (use HN27182818284).

Do you think there's something in this?

------
FroshKiller
I jumped to Gmail exclusively for my personal mail in 2004 and never looked
back. If my work email followed suit, I'd be thrilled.

~~~
wayno
What are you currently using for your work email and why do you prefer Gmail?

We moved our company email from Outlook to Gmail roughly 2 years ago and
personally I struggled at the time. Since then I have become a fan of Gmail,
but it took a lot of adjusting. I have tried to convert a few Outlook and
Apple Mail users but I find that most people really struggle with the move.

The most painful thing by far is the threaded view (more specifically that
they put the newest message at the bottom of the thread). To someone who isn't
super committed to the change it seems ludicrous - your Inbox runs top down
from newest to oldest but when you open a thread it works in the exact
opposite way.

Now that I think about it I don't know what the person who made that decision
was smoking at the time - it's a sure way to turn people away from your
product. I can only assume they did it that way to make it feel more like IM,
but if they want to acquire more business users they should at least make it
an option to put the most recent message at the top, like every other mail
client does.

